EfiE    277 


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jjs^afcc*  ii^v^4«^;sfetM,'4^4» 


I 

I  *& 

K*      ""*"" 


THE 


PHILOSOPHY 


'OF 


NEGRO  SUFFRAGE 


JEROME    R.    RILEY,     M.   D. , 

AUTHOR  AND  PUBLISHER. 
WASHINGTON,    D.C. 

1897. 


COPYRIGHT,  1895 
BY  JEROME  R.   RILEY 

{All  rights  reserved) 


BeDlcateD  to  abtnhtng  Men  anfc  Women. 


CORRECTIONS. 


On  page  26,  line  14,  for  "principal,"  read  "principle." 
On  page  28,  third  line  from  bottom,  for  "David  B.  Hill," 

read  "W.  R.  Hearst,  proprietor  New  York  Journal. " 

On   page   29,    first   line,    for    "Palmer   and   Turpin,"  read 

"  Teller  and  Turpie." 

On  page  60,  line  12,  for  "  our  race,"  read  "  both  races." 
On  page  68,  fourth  line  from  bottom,  for  "it  does,"  read 

"  they  do." 

On  page  102,  first  line,  for  "adding,"  read  "affording." 


PREFACE. 


IN  dedicating  this  work  to  thinking  men  and 
women  the  author  desires  it  to  be  understood  that 
he  lays  no  claim  to  literary  pretentions  or  distinction. 
His  only  purpose  being  to  supply,  as  fully  as  he  may 
be  able,  as  a  result  of  his  observation  and  experience, 
some  of  the  apparent  discrepancies,  which  to  his  mind 
exist  in  the  publications  of  well-known  negro  leaders 
and  writers,  and  to  supply  some  of  the  essential  points, 
thus  enabling  thinking  men  and  women  to  comprehend 
more  accurately  our  true  status.  It  has  been  the  ob 
ject  of  the  author  to  base,  as  far  as  possible,  his  con 
clusions  upon  original  investigations  and  experience, 
and  trusts  that  the  work  may  accomplish,  in  some 
degree,  the  purpose  for  which  it  is  designed. 

JEROME  R.  RILEY. 


(5) 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
The  Philosophy  of  Negro  Suffrage,         .         .         .11 

CHAPTER  II. 

Suffrage  in  the  District  of  Columbia,       .         .  17 

CHAPTER  III. 

Negro  Suffrage  in  the  Southern  States  —  Some  of 
the  Evil  Results  Pointed  Out — The  Remedies 
Suggested  —  The  Cause  of  its  Failure  —  The 
Negro  Leadership  —  Miss  Ida  B.  Wells  and  her 
Crusaders  Criticised, 32 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Atlanta  Exposition  and  the  Benefits  to  Accrue 
Therefrom  to  the  Negro  Race,  and  Our  Duty  in 
Connection  Therewith,  .  .  .  .68 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Labor  Question  Discussed  —  The  Benefits 
Which  Must  Come  to  the  Negro  Through  This 
Field,  ....  .73 

(7) 


8  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Logical  Results  of  Investigation  —  Comments  on 
Prominent  Colored  Officials  of  Approved  Char 
acter,  both  Democrats  and  Republicans,  of  the 
District  of  Columbia,  and  Comments  on  Race 
Leadership, 80 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Civil  Service  Touched  Upon,  ...  .89. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

A  Word  of  Counsel  to  the  Negro  Voters  of  Mary 
land  and  Kentucky — Seeking  Strength  from 
Those  Best  Able  to  Render  It,  .  .  92 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Social  Equality  Discussed  —  A  Manifest  Difference 
Shown  between  Social  and  Common  Public 
Rights,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .96 

CHAPTER   X. 

A  Discussion  of  the  Public  Schools  of  the  District 
of  Columbia  —  Suggestions  as  to  their  Improve 
ment —  A  Lack  of  Discrimination  of  the  Negro 
not  yet  Fully  Developed,  ...  .  101 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

The  Afro-American  Free  Silver  Club  Changed  from 
Palmer  to  Bryan  Club  —  Dr.  Riley  Defends  His 
Position,  .  ....  109^ 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Hon.  John  R.  McLean  Commended  to  the  Colored 
Voters  for  Their  Support  as  Against  Hon.  M.  A. 
Hanna  —  A  Few  of  His  Many  Claims  on  Their 
Support  Set  Forth  —  Points  in  the  Democratic 
and  Republican  Platforms  Contrasted  —  Refer 
ence  Made  to  the  Late  Elections  in  Maryland  and 
Kentucky,  and  Hons.  Blair  Lee]  and  Cabel 
Breckinridge  Mentioned,  .  .  .  .  .115 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Reference  to  a  Personal  and  Private  Letter  of  That 
Great  Democratic  Leader  and  .Champion  of  the 
People's  Cause,  Hon.  William  J.  Bryan;^of 
Nebraska,  to  the  Writer  Referred  to— Intelli 
gence  of  Colored  Bimetallists  Complimentediby 
Him,  .....  .  125 


THE 

PHILOSOPHY    OF    NEGRO    SUFFRAGE. 

CHAPTER    I.  A  UFO 

JTJHE  genius  and  intrepidity  of  American 
'  ^  manhood  and  vigor  is  to  begin  at  the 
beginning  —  de  novo,  —  as  often  as  it 
becomes  necessary,  in  order  that  a  proper 
starting  —  a  proper  basis  may  be  secured. 
This  proposition  the  writer  holds  in  much 
estimation,  as  primarily  essential.  Moreover, 
he  hopes  and  believes  that  through  such  a  be 
ginning  we  shall  be  better  able  and  equipped 
to  realize  some  of  the  blessings  of  American 
citizenship,  with  a  fuller  measure  of  popular 
privileges  all  along  the  line.  With  no  record 
back  of  us  demonstrating  our  capacity  for 
successful  self-government,  the  most  philo 
sophic  question  for  us  to  consider  is :  how  we 


12       PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

can  the  better  show  ourselves  competent  to 
render  assistance  in  placing  the  common  and 
popular  rights  of  the  race  upon  a  sure  and 
safe  foundation,  making,  however,  no  mistake 
as  to  our  real  purpose  and  ultimate  object. 

The  most  casual  and  ordinary  observant  of 
.human  affairs,  since  our  emancipation  from 
the  institution  of  American  slavery,  could  not 
have  'failed-  to  note  that  whatever  may  be  said 
of  parties,  respecting  their  interest  in  and  feel 
ing  for  us  as  suffragants,  its  unpopularity  has 
always  shown  itself  through  the  cracks  in 
every  section  of  this  country,  whatever  the 
exterior  pretensions  might  have  disclosed. 

If  such  contentions  be  true  —  and  we  be 
lieve  them  susceptible  of  proof  —  true  philoso 
phy  at  once  suggests  careful  investigation  as 
to  its  cause  and  a  possibility  of  its  improve 
ment. 

At  this  late  day  we  deem  it  unnecessary 
to  discuss,  as  is  common  among  most  of  our 
writers,  whether  or  not  Mr.  Lincoln  was  in 
favor  of  saving  the  Union  with  or  without 
slavery,  or  how  many  soldiers  who  went  into 
the  army  to  fight  for  the  Union  were  demo- 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE.       i 


6 


crats  or  republicans,  or  whether  it  was  their 
patriotism,  their  love  for  the  Union,  or  their 
dislike  for  the  institution  of  American  slavery 
as  it  then  existed.  The  present,  the  passing, 
and  the  future  are  what  we  have  to  deal  with. 
Our  best  energies  and  capabilities  are  to  be 
exerted  in  this  direction. 

In  launching  the  Great  Eastern  it  was 
found  difficult  to  set  her  afloat,  when  her 
captain  cried  out,  "  Who  can  push  a  pound?" 
Such  are  our  feelings  in  entering  into  this  dis 
cussion,  regardless  of  party  bias  or  affiliation. 
What  can  we,  as  a  democrat,  do,  however 
feeble,  to  aid  in  a  successful  launching  of  our 

o 

race  interest  ? 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  one  of  the 
great  causes  operating  against  us  reaches  fur 
ther  back  even  than  our  lono;  servitude  during 

o  o 

American  slavery, —  antedating, —  which  must 
carry  us  to  our  ancestral  development  and 
traditional  history  in  search  of  some  record 
upon  which  to  found  basic  principles  upon 
which  to  build  a  structure  which  shall  stand 
the  wear  and  tear  of  ages.  If,  however,  our 
great  great  ancestors  have  left  us  no  record 


14      PHILOSOPHY  OF   NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

to  speak  of  for  civilization  and  improvement, 
our  plain  duty,  therefore,  is  to  set  about  as 
best  we  may  to  make  a  record  for  ourselves. 
It  should  be  such  a  one  as  to  gain  us  standing 
before  the  people, —  the  Court  of  Last  Resort, 
—  bearing  in  mind  that  the  dominant  race  in 
this  country  is  very  nearly  evenly  divided 
between  the  two  great  parties.  In  order  to 
attract  the  attention  of  the  Supreme  Bar,  our 
case  must  be  fully  made  up,  and  well  too, 
from  every  point  of  view.  Moreover,  our 
conduct  must  be  of  such  a  marked  character 
as  not  only  to  attract  the  attention  of  this 
Court,  but  such  as  to  gain  its  sympathy  and 
interest  as  well,  that  an  abiding  and  lasting 
faith  in  our  integrity  and  honesty  of  purpose 
may  be  established. 

Let  us  show  clearly  to  this  Court  that  we 
are  quite  capable  of  rising  to  the  superb  level 
of  independent  and  logical  thinking  men  and 
women.  This  done,  the  initial  step  will  have 
been  taken  looking  to  the  practical  solution 
of  the  race  problem.  Thereafter  we  can  trust 
much  to  the  natural  growth  of  time  and  at 
tendant  circumstances  as  they  arise.  If,  in 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE.       15 

our  daily  intercourse,  our  daily  avocations, 
business  or  political  affiliations,  we  may  be 
brought  into  a  closer  touch  with  any  member 
of  this  Court,  it  can  be  of  no  detriment  to  us 
if  by  this  contact  we  shall  show  that  we  will 
bear  close  scrutiny  and  inspection. 

In  the  study  of  European  history,  especially 
that  of  Russia,  the  student  has  doubtless  been 
struck  with  the  remarkable  fertility  and  re 
sourcefulness  of  that  great  empire,  the  great 
variety  of  its  products,  the  diversity  of  its 
climate  as  well  as  its  soil,  making  it,  through 
its  great  natural  advantages  and  resources, 
independent,  practically,  of  its  great  rivals  and 
neighbors,  thus  enabling  her  to  solve  many 
problems,  even  perplexing  ones.  A  growl 
from  the  Russian  Bear  often  causes  her 
rivals  to  halt  and  even  subside,  her  inherent 
strength,  power,  and  greatness  being  at  all 
times  manifest  from  her  own  resources  and 
resourcefulness.  If  diversity  in  one  direction 
will  solve  problems,  why  not  give  its  suf 
ficiency  a  trial  in  another  ? 

We  feel,  reasoning  from  cause  and  effect, 
that  it  should  accomplish  much  in  another 


1 6       PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

toward  giving  us  standing  and  security  both 
in  the  industrial  and  political  fields,  for  the 
reason  that  it  is  more  likely  to  bring  us  into 
contact  with  the  various  shades  of  sentiment, 
primarily  favorable  or  unfavorable,  through 
out  the  country  ;  but  the  sentiment  which  we 
seek  to  interest  in  our  behalf  most'  is  the 
dominant  sentiment  of  that  section  where  we 
reside,  rather  than  that  where  we  do  not  live. 
Through  the  failure  of  negro  suffrage  in 
the  District  of  Columbia  and  in  every  repub 
lican  southern  state  as  well,  bringing  repres 
sion  to  our  energies  and  discouragement  to 
our  industries,  and,  very  properly,  distrust  of 
our  capable  management  of  affairs  requiring 
real  qualities  of  head  and  heart  to  successfully 
cope  with  the  intricate  affairs  of  municipal 
government,  in  order  that  civilization  might 
not  digress,  but  its  momentum  be  preserved. 


CHAPTER    II. 

SUFFRAGE     IN     THE     DISTRICT     OF 
COLUMBIA. 


WE 


find  that  a  popular  error  seems  to 
pervade  the  minds  of  many  which 
does  an  injustice  to  the  present  colored 
republican  leaders  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
Mr.  Carson  and  Mr.  Chase.  These  gentlemen 
can  not  and  should  not  be  held  responsible  for 
our  failures  here,  in  that,  at  that  time,  they 
were  mere  followers.  The  real  gilt-edged 
leaders  of  that  clay  were  the  late  Hon.  Fred 
Douglass,  Hon.  John  M.  Langston,  Capt.  O. 
S.  B.  Wall,  Carter  Stewart,  Sr.,  Randall 
Bowie,  Henry  Johnson,  and  others.  What 
ever  responsibility  attaches  to  our  failure  in 
this  direction  must  be  charged  to  the  leaders 
of  that  clay  and  not  to  the  leaders  of  to-day. 
Their  leadership  is  but  the  legitimate  legacy 
left  them.  Speakers  and  essayists  of  our  race 
A  (17) 


1 8       PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

seem  to  deplore  our  lack  of  leadership  that 
we  have  none.  We  are,  perhaps,  a  little  im 
patient  of  results  in  this  direction.  Our  con 
ditions  have  not  been  favorable  for  develop 
ment  of  the  real  qualities  of  leadership.  In 
this  we  mean  no  reflection  on  our  development 
and  progress  since  freedom  nor  yet  any  notions 
we  may  have  obtained  during  slavery  along 
this  line.  It  is  quite  common  for  our  great 
leaders  to  refer  to  our  loner  servitude  as  a 

o 

reason  or  excuse  for  not  knowing  and  doing  ; 
being  blind  to  the  fact  that  whatever  we  are, 
much  or  little,  and  under  whatever  degree 
of  suffering  we  may  have  endured,  has  been 
developed  under  the  system  of  American 
slavery,  for  back  of  us  we  find  our  ancestry, 
on  one  side  or  the  other,  more  often  on  both, 
though  kings  and  princesses  of  the  realm, 
were  but  barbarians. 

We  are  making  no  criticism  upon  our  an 
cestry,  for  in  their  disposing  of  their  sons  and 
daughters,  whether  through  trade  or  barter  of 
whatever  character,  they  acted,  perhaps,  under 
the  best  light  as  they  understood  things. 


THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA.  19 

We,  however,   to-day  understand  better  than 
they. 

While  undergoing  tutelage,  the  writer,  from 
many  years  of  observation  and  contact, 
believes  that  the  most  successful  leadership 
should  be  those  who  are  the  most  capable  of 
leading  regardless  of  party  predilection  or 
color.  My  own  experience  has  been  that 
white  leadership  is  preferable,  in  that  it  is  the 
most  capable  from  its  long  training,  especially 
when  it  possesses  the  strong  sense  of  fairness, 
freedom,  and  equality  under  the  law.  What 
I  wish  to  convey  is  better  illustrated  by  the 
action  of  Governor  Garland  of  Arkansas  when 
he  was  governor  of  that  State.  Mr.  Furbush, 
a  colored  man,  having  been  elected  sheriff 
of  Lee  County,  as  an  independent  but  a 
strong  supporter  of  the  governor,  some  white 
democrats,  after  the  Garland  government  was 
safely  launched,  while  he  was  handling  the 
race  problem  with  signal  ability  and  success, 
called  upon  him  and  urged  him  to  remove 
Furbush  from  the  office  he  held.  His  first 
inquiry  was  :  "Is  there  anything  against  his 
moral  character  or  capacity?"  Receiving  a 


2O      PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

negative  reply,  promptly  responded,  "  I  can't 
remove  him  ;  he  was  our  staunch  supporter, 
during  our  whole  trouble  ;  he  had,  necessarily, 
to  make  some  sacrifices  and  bear  reproaches 
from  his  own  people,  and  I  shall  sustain  him." 
As  enrolling  clerk  of  the  legislature,  we 
happened,  at  that  time,  as  we  often  were 
during  that  session,  to  be  near  him  and  heard 
the  above  conversation.  From  such  a  man  as 
Governor  Garland,  we  neither  expected  nor 
received  any  ante-election  or  catchy  epistles, 
which  are  too  often  meaningless  and  decep 
tive,  even  if  weighty,  relying  rather  upon 
post-election  performances,  which  were  never 
wanting. 

What  is  true  of  Governor  Garland  can 
truthfully  be  said  of  many  statesmen  through 
out  the  South  who  are  desirous  of  aiding  us 
and  securing  a  proper  basis  in  solving  the 
problem  of  a  harmonious  and  satisfactory 
relationship. 

The  vote  of  the  Hon.  Clifton  R.  Breckin- 
ridge  in  the  Board  of  Aldermen  of  Pine 
Bluff,  Arkansas,  once  made  Col.  Ferd.  Havis, 
by  reason  of  his  character  and  ability  and 


THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA.  21 

knowledge  of  municipal  affairs,  acting  mayor 
for  the  time  being,  which  was  a  very  high 
compliment  to  that  gentleman,  differing,  as  he 
did,  in  politics  from  our  American  Minister 
to  Russia. 

We  all  partake,  largely,  of  our  early  im 
pressions  and  environments.  When  a  lad  at 
school  in  Canada,  in  the  study  of  political 
economy  and  the  science  of  government,  we 
were  led  to  observe  the  gradations  through 
which  their  leaders  and  statesmen  passed. 
First,  we  had  the  common  councilman,  next 
the  deputy  reeve,  then  reeve,  after  which 
legislative  and  parliamentary  honors  were 
considered  in  order.  Acting  under  such  con 
victions,  we  submit  that  it  is  a  small  wonder, 
therefore,  that  some  of  us  should  reject  party 
policy  and  leadership  which  sprung  up  spon 
taneously,  almost,  leading  us  away  from  the 
safety  line  and  landing  us  too  uncomfortably 
near  the  clanger  line. 

We  have  no  disposition  to  turn  back  the 
dial  of  the  clock,  but  we  do  desire  that  it  shall 
report  accurately  the  time  of  the  clay.  If  it 
be  five  in  the  morning  let  the  clock  strike,  the 


22       PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

same  when  it  is  midnight,  and  at  whatever 
hour,  so  that  no  one  need  cry  out,  "  Watch 
man,  what  of  the  night  ?" 

Reasoning  from  this  point  of  view,  the 
conclusions  of  the  writer  we  deem  fully 
justified. 

In  the  Southern  States,  where  all  our  inter 
est  lay,  our  republican  leaders  were  making  no 
better  showing  for  us  than  here  in  the  District 
of  Columbia,  giving  no  better  guarantee  for 
the  future  than  our  republican  leaders  had 
been  able  to  vouchsafe  for  us  here,  besides 
which,  some  medium  by  which  a  more  har 
monious  relationship,  which  had  become 
greatly  strained,  was  imperative.  Under  the 
new  conditions,  as  freemen  and  citizens  the  old 
relationship  of  master  and  slave  could  not 
exist.  In  the  writer's  best  judgment  and 
opinion,  a  peace  basis  lay  only  in  the  direction 
of  diversity  of  suffrage  along  democratic  lines 
and  under  democratic  auspices  and  leadership 
with  the  hope  of  stemming  the  current  of 
popular  disapproval  then  setting  in  so  strong 
against  us,  North,  East,  and  West,  as  well  as 
in  the  South,  where  all  our  interest  and  hopes 


THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA.  23 

lay,  then  and  for  all  time.  Moreover,  we  desired 
our  citizenship  to  become  a  positive  reality — a 
living  fact — meeting  the  approval  and  respect 
of  the  dominant  race  at  our  homes.  It  has 
been  a  matter  of  surprise,  even  marvelous,  that, 
after  the  failure  of  negro  suffrage  here,  and  all 
along  the  line  through  our  iiicompetency,  if 
not  downright  dishonesty,  that  a  thorough  dis 
cussion  of  the  causes  leading  to  such  failure 
was  not  had  on  the  part  of  our  leaders  —  cast 
ing  up  accounts,  thereby  relieving  some  serious 
apprehensions  engendered,  as  to  our  total  un- 
fitness  for  self  government. 

Believing  as  we  do  in  that  cardinal  principle 
of  the  democratic  party,  "home  rule,"  we  feel 
that  negro  democracy  in  the  District  has  had  a 
serious  setback  by  reason  of  non-resident  recog 
nition  in  official  appointments,  and  we  venture 
the  assertion  that  such  is  the  verdict  of  our 
citizens  regardless  of  race  or  party,  save  a  very 
trifling  exception  here  and  there  scarcely  worth 
adverting  to.  However,  here  as  elsewhere, 
whether  the  appointment  be  that  of  a  resident 
or  non-resident,  character,  integrity,  and  ability 
receive  their  just  reward  through  universal 
commendation  of  official  conduct. 


24      PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

We  commend  the  press  of  our  city  and  our 

nost  efficient  local  civil  service  board  for  their 

scrutiny  of,   and   demand  for,  high  character 

ind  integrity  in  official  appointees  in  the  Dis- 

;rict,  and   it  has,  we  are  happy  to  say,  never 

been  on  a  color  basis.     Especially  we  desire  to 

commend  Editor  Chase  of  "The  Washington 

Bee,''  whose  sting  we  have  often  felt,  for  his 

determined,  persistent,  and  consistent  demand 

that   character    and    virtue   be   exemplified   in 

those  selected  for  negro  representation.     Even 

at  great  odds  he  has  carried  on  his  efforts,  and 

should  always   be   gratefully   remembered   by 

this  moral  community. 

Adverting  for  a  moment  to  our  local  civil 
service  board,  we  desire  to  commend  that  emi 
nent  divine,  Rev.  Dr.  Alexander  McKay  Smith, 
that  inveterate  foe  of  immorality  and  vice 
wherever  found,  whether  in  high  places  or  in 
low  places,  for  his  efforts  toward  improvement 
or  removal  of  officials  whose  character  is  ques 
tioned  or  suspected.  The  efficient  secretary  of 
the  board,  P.  L.  Siddons,  Esq.,  deserves  special 
mention  in  this  connection. 

The  real  purpose  of  negro  democracy,  as  the 
writer  understands  it,  is  to  counteract  and 


THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA.  25 

divert  a  false  basis,  a  wrong  tendency  leading 
to  false  conclusions  inimical  to  the  true  phi 
losophy  of  suffrage.  Our  reliability  and 
stability  is  ofttimes  questioned,  and  not  wholly 
without  good  reason  on  some  occasions,  as  we 
shall  show.  While  the  appointment  of  a  very 
honorable  non-resident  colored  gentleman  to 
an  important  office  in  the  district  was  being 
considered  by  the  Senate  some  seven  or  eight 
years  ago,  one  of  our  recognized  great  leaders 
of  that  time,  speaking  of  the  appointment  and 
nomination,  remarked  with  emphasis  to  the 
writer  that  he  was  for  home  rule ;  "  besides,  it  is 
embodied  in  your  platforms.  Whether  it  is  or 
not,  I  am  for  the  principle  of  home  rule."  His 
emphatic  manner  impressed  us  most  strikingly 
as  to  his  sincerity,  as  much  so  as  any  such 
statements  made  by  Hon.  James  L.  Norris  or 
Hon.  B.  H.  Warner.  Much  to  our  surprise,  a 
few  years  later  we  found  this  same  great  leader, 
for  some  not  yet  revealed  reason,  espousing 
the  claims  of  a  man  who  was  a  non-resident, 
to  the  same  office.  Our  conduct  should  be  such 
as  never  to  bring  our  integrity  in  question 


26       PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

and  divert  a  false  basis,  a  wrong  tendency 
leading  to  a  false  conclusion. 

Whatever  sacrifices  we  may  make  we  should 
be  amply  compensated,  if  through  our  efforts, 
with  whatever  talent,  virtue,  and  morality  we 
may  possess. 

A  single  step  taken,  remedial  and  beneficial, 
directed  first  of  all  to  character  establishment, 
in  order  that  our  material  prosperity  might 
follow  and  a  firmer  basis  take  a  firmer  hold. 
The  writer  is  far  from  believing  that  all  the 
virtue  is  reposed  in  any  one  party.  Our  plain 
duty  is,  as  far  as  possible,  to  keep  interest  and 
principal  together.  By  so  doing  we  will  be 
the  better  able  to  become  potent  factors  in 
strengthening  the  force  and  purifying  the 
fountain  of  our  political  and  material  action. 
Certainly  our  great  republican  negro  leaders 
cannot  hope  or  even  desire  to  see  the  great 
mass  of  our  race  continue  in  this  happy-go- 
lucky  state  in  which  we  are  to-clay,  for  in 
such  relation  we  are  merely  drift-wood  in 
the  great  body  politic  —  going  out  with  the 
refluent  tide  with  no  harbor  in  view  —  going 
whither  no  one  knows  or  cares. 


THE   DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA.  27 

When  a  lad  in  Canada,  standing-  on  the 
banks  of  Tiber  creek,  during  a  great  freshet 
at  the  North  Buxton  mill-dam,  Mr.  Peter 
Straith,  the  Scotch  owner  of  the  mill,  shouted 
out  to  his  men  :  "  Raise  the  dam.  It  is  only 
driftwood  that  will  go  through."  In  an 
instant  came  back  the  reply  :  "  Fifty  feet  of 
hewn  timber  has  just  gone  through."  The 
owner  quickly  responded :  "  Shut  down  the 
dam  !  Shut  down  the  clam  !  "  While  we  are 
but  driftwood  we  may  go  through  and  on  to 
the  sea  or  where  nobody  cares,  but  as  we 
become  hewn  timbers,  full-grown  men,  par 
taking  of  all  the  vigor  of  real  manhood,  of 
principal  and  interest,  entering  into  the  fabric 
of  our  country's  structure,  will  we  be  factors 
worth  considering.  Some  such  legacy  as  this 
we  must  leave  to  our  children  and  those  who 
are  to  follow  if  we  would  do  our  duty  to  our 
selves  and  the  times  in  which  we  live. 

Moreover,  certain  conditions  are  primarily 
essential  in  the  development  of  negro  leader 
ship —  time,  circumstances,  and  conditions 
which  should  apply  with  equal  force  to  us  as 
with  the  Anglo-Saxon,  if  not  a  little  more  so,- 


28       PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

lacking,  as  we  do,  many  of  the  moral  and 
traditional  elements  which  enter  into  true  and 
lasting  civilization.  Remembering"  all  the 

o  o 

while,  that  whatever  impressions  we  have 
gained  respecting  civilization  and  improve 
ment  have  had  their  origin  in  servitude  and 
attendant  conditions  which  were,  in  many  re 
spects,  too  meager  to  count  upon  in  a  correct 
and  judicious  rendering,  consequently  the 
writer  submits,  that  if  these  premises  are  true 
and  correct  in  fact,  as  he  conscientiously  be 
lieves,  the  circumstances,  the  times,  or  condi 
tions  do  not  warrant  the  assumption  of  our 
negro  republican  leaders,  that  as  such  they 
are  really  needed. 

Believing  that  white  leadership,  in  the  very 
nature  of  things,  is  preferable,  by  reason  of  its 
long  and  severe  tutelage  in  this  direction,  rep 
resenting  long  experience  and  great  capabili 
ties,  every  shade  of  political  action  and  activ 
ity,  men  of  high  moral  standing  and  fairness, 
whose  leadership  we  might  safely  follow. 

Why  not  such  men  as  David  B.  Hill,  ex- 
Secretary  Whitney,  Speaker  Crisp,  Minister 
Breckinridge,  A.  H.  Garland,  Arthur  P.  Gor- 


THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA.  29 

man,  Senators  Palmer  and  Turpin,  and  many 
others  of  this  stand,  representing  the  democ 
racy.  Among  the  republicans,  such^  as  ex- 
Speaker  Reed,  General  Harrison,  Allison, 
Col.  Hepborn,  Governors  Morton  and  Mc- 
Kinley,  General  Alger,  all  representing  their 
true  party  standards.  Why  not  accept  lead 
ership  from  these  gentlemen  ? 

Better  no  leadership  at  all,  than  one  whose 
reputation  is  notoriously  tarnished  should  be 
forced  upon  us  from  either  side. 

The  almost  fatal  wounds  which  suffrage  re- 

o 

ceived  in  this  District,  because  of  notoriously 
bad  leadership,  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  have  not  been  healed. 
Here  the  damage  was  wrought ;  here  the  re- 

o  o 

pairs  should  take  place.  The  curative  effects 
of  remedial  measures  should  be  made  strik 
ingly  apparent.  This  cannot  be  done,  how 
ever,  by  masquerading  under  the  leadership 
such  as  that  which  carried  us  down ;  but  a 
new  leadership,  such  as  is  embodied  in  the 
high  character  and  eminent  ability  and  pro 
fessional  standing  of  Dr.  Robert  Reyburn. 
Even  he,  for  the  next  quarter  of  a  century, 


o       PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 


cannot  do  more  than  ward  off  severe  criticism, 
against  return  to  the  suffrage  period  such  as 
obtained  under  former  negro  leaders.  It  is, 
indeed,  a  heavy  weight  that  Dr.  Reyburn  is 
carrying.  He  needs  every  assistance  from  the 
advocates  of  suffrage.  They  can  aid  him  much 
in  making  the  burden  lighter.  Will  they  do 
it?  Indeed,  he  is  making  a  sacrifice  that  few 
men,  with  as  little  encouragement,  would  dare 
undertake  ;  and  were  it  not  for  his  high  char 
acter  and  unblemished  reputation,  he  long 
since  would  have  gone  down  with  this  load. 
It  would  be  a  deserved  compliment  to  him 
were  he  unanimously  named  as  a  delegate  to 
represent  his  party  to  the  next  National  Con 
vention.  Will  they  do  it  ?  We  find  that  there 
are  many  colored  men,  as  well  as  white,  in 
the  District,  who  want  suffrage  only  as  it 
shall  come  to  them  in  a  qualified  form. 
They  seem  to  feel  the  necessity  of  some  re 
strictions  as  to  its  use  and  scope ;  feeling 
that  restriction  would  bring'  us  into  closer 
touch  with  the  business  interest  and  dom 
inant  sentiment  of  the  community,  thus  dem 
onstrating  that  the  wound  was  such  as  to 


THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA.  31 

require  some  reapproachment  before  a  com 
plete  restriction  was  possible.  Moreover,  it 
is  apparently  obvious  that  our  negro  repub 
lican  leaders  must  signally  fail  to  meet  the  re 
quirements  and  obligations  of  the  hour. 


CHAPTER   III. 

NEGRO  SUFFRAGE  IN  THE  SOUTHERN 
STATES  —  SOME  OF  THE  EVIL  RE 
SULTS  POINTED  OUT  — THE  REME 
DIES  SUGGESTED  — THE  CAUSE  OF 
ITS  FAILURE  — THE  NEGRO  LEADER 
SHIP—MISS  IDA  B.  WELLS  AND  HER 
CRUSADERS  CRITICISED. 

T  F  it  be  true  that  our  ablest  and  highest  type 
of  negro  leadership  has  been  largely  cen 
tered  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  the 
conditions  being  favorable  for  its  highest  de 
velopment,  and  yet  failed,  what  must  be  said 
of  the  states  where  this  leadership  was  rather 
of  a  secondary  and  advisory  character,  yet  of 
paramount  interest  to  all  the  citizens  in  the 
maintenance  of  popular  representative  and 
progressive  government. 

This  brings  us  to  consider  negro  leadership 
during  this  period,  carrying  with  it,  largely, 
all  the  responsibilities  and  requirements  of 

(32) 


SUFFRAGE  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  STATES.    33 

local  self-government,  —  state,  county,  and 
municipal.  Was  their  equipment  sufficient 
for  so  great  an  undertaking  ?  Let  us  see  the 
carrying  capacity  of  our  craft.  Was  it  well 
equipped,  properly  manned,  well  rigged  - 
was  it,  in  short,  seaworthy  for  so  important  a 
voyage  ?  Where  was  it  built  ?  When  was 
it  launched  ?  True  philosophy  suggests  and 
demands  such  an  inquiry.  If,  as  has  been 
stated,  our  knowledge  of  government  had 
taken  its  origin  in  servitude,  any  contention  as 
to  our  competent  control  and  management  of 
the  craft  would  seem,  on  its  face,  absurd  and 
ridiculous.  The  ignorance  displayed  by  those 
claiming  to  be  men  of  sense,  holding,  as  they 
did,  the  interest  of  eight  million  of  our  race 
in  their  keeping,  was  remarkable  and  even 
marvelous. 

Especially  was  this  true  in  their  precipit 
ous  purpose  to  "go  it  alone,"  regardless  of, 
and,  in  fact,  independent  of  moral,  material, 
and  dominant  intellectual  forces  with  which 
they  had  to  deal,  and  this  too  without  a  sin 
gle  day's  training  for  the  duties  in  which  our 


34       PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

whole  future  and  that  of  our  children  were 
involved.  Apparently,  we  were  sowing  to  the 
wind  and  but  reaped  the  whirlwind.  Our  fail 
ure,  therefore,  was  humiliating  and  complete 
all  along  the  line.  Our  leaders  had  put  into 
our  hands  keen-edged  tools  which  we  knew 
not  how  to  use  neither  wisely  nor  well.  Our 
weapons  of  defense  were  illy  chosen, —  good 
for  the  day  only.  For  these  leaders  to  have 
selected  for  us  such  weapons, —  weapons  we 
could  not  intelligently  handle  and  use,— only 
magnified  their  own  ignorance,  leaving  us,  as 
they  did,  to  bear  the  ills  and  reproaches  and 
even  violence  incident  to  such  leadership. 

A  leadership  that  taught  and  caused  us  to 
neglect  the  cultivation  of  our  corn,  potatoes, 
tobacco,  and  cotton,  and  incidental  family  re 
quirements,  in  order  that  this  leadership  might 
reach  desired  prominence  and  gain,  while  our 
families  suffered,  was  most  reprehensible,  if, 
indeed,  not  criminal  on  their  part ;  for  the 
reason  that  some  of  them,  at  least,  knew 
better.  Bringing  into  prominence  and  power 
as  state  and  county  officials,  members  of  the 
legislature,  often  presenting  sights  such  as  to 


SUFFRAGE  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  STATES.    35 

cause  the  gods  to  smile,  who  were  to  make 
laws  for  a  proud  people  with  hundreds  of 
years  of  civilization  behind  them,  thereby 
ruining,  as  they  did,  so  many  able-bodied  men 
who  were  better  fitted  for  the  fields,  the 
blacksmith  shop,  and  the  carpenter's  bench. 
How  many  able-bodied  men  were  thus  ruined 
will  never  be  accurately  known.  Now,  as 
then,  our  weapons  of  defense  must  be  well 
chosen  and  properly  maintained.  What  was 
good  policy  then  is  good  policy  still.  Our 
pathway  under  this  leadership  was  being  con 
fined  tovery  narrow  limits. 

The  favorable  impressions  made  upon  many 
good  people  in  every  section  of  this  and  other 
countries  during  our  long  servitude  was  seem 
ingly  taking  on  a  sudden  departure,  to  prevent 
which,  in  our  opinion,  is  the  mission  of  the 
negro  democracy  and  all  others  seemingly 
interested  in  the  promotion  of  our  well-being. 
The  apparent  severance  of  the  ties  which 
existed  between  master  and  slave  necessitated 
a  re-approachment  upon  other  lines,  the  basis 
of  which  should  be  peace  founded  upon  citi 
zenship,  mutual  confidence,  and  hearty  good 


36       PHILOSOPHY  OF   NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

will,  — -  one  which  shall  stand  the  wear  and 
tear  of  ages.  Through  our  citizenship  and 
intelligence  we  seek  to  give  honest  impres 
sions  as  to  our  present  needs  and  passing- 
requirements  in  our  effort  to  evolve  a  higher 
state  of  civilization.  The  co-operation  and 
support  of  our  white  friends  in  this  effort  must 
,be  secured.  The  best  elements  entering  into 
our  make-up  as  good  citizens  must  be  made 
manifest.  In  this  we  will  strengthen  that 
essential  reapproachment,  making  it  easy  of 
accomplishment. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  it  is  any 
neck-and-neck  race  between  us  and  that  of 
the  dominant  race  of  the  Southland,  with  the 
whites  rapidly  tiring.  A  number  of  years 
ago,  when  in  Nebraska,  an  enterprising  young 
woman  from  the  Eastern  States  requested  my 
self  and  father  to  assist  her  in  locating  a 
homestead,  carrying  with  it  the  conventional 
dirt  house  and  the  driving  of  stakes.  Reach 
ing  the  point  selected  by  her,  while  in  the  act 
of  setting  the  stakes,  we  were  surprised  by  a 
farmer  who,  after  finding  out  our  mission,  told 
us  to  move  further  down  the  line,  remarking 


SUFFRAGE  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  STATES.    37 

that  his  line  reached  beyond  the  visible  stake ; 
that  the  next  vacant  homestead  was  further 
beyond  and  a  little  below.  The  young  lady 
not  being  satisfied  with  his  mere  statement, 
he  at  once  requested  us  to  accompany  him 
below  a  bluff  where  we  were  brought  into  full 
view  of  a  cultivated  homestead,  a  substantial 
dirt  house,  stables,  and  other  improvements, 
a  good  growing  crop,  satisfying  and  convinc 
ing  to  the  most  skeptic,  not  only  of  his  priority 
right  of  preemption,  but  the  improvement  and 
development  of  a  long  and  progressive  resi 
dence.  Precisely  in  such  relation  do  we  stand 
to  the  dominant  race  at  the  South  and  else 
where,  whatever  we  may  think  or  however  we 
may  feel  respecting  this  or  that  class  of  white 
citizens  of  one  section  or  the  other ;  their 
record,  as  a  race,  for  civilization,  statesman 
ship,  and  of  progress,  is  made  up,  safely  an 
chored,  and  must  stand. 

Prudence,  therefore,  suggests  that  we  should 
regulate  ourselves  accordingly.  The  intre 
pidity  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  has  been  the 
wonder  of  this  and  of  all  ages.  We  verily 


38       PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

believe  that  if  the  North  Pole  shall  ever  be 
discovered  he  will  be  found  astride  of  it. 

The  fittest  in  government  and  for  govern 
ment  must  and  should  survive.  Truth  and 
candor,  on  the  part  of  the  writer,  compel  the 
admission  of  this  proposition.  Capital  and 
intelligence  may,  at  all  times,  be  relied  upon 
to  take  care  of  themselves.  Not  even  supe 
rior  numbers,  backed  by  ignorance  and  pov 
erty,  can  be  reckoned  upon  to  make  a  formi 
dable  resistance  to  their  progress.  This  we 
believe,  upon  general  principles,  to  be  correct. 
Hence  the  survival  of  the  fittest  in  govern- 

£> 

ment  as  in  individuals  is  best  for  each  and  all 
and  will  always  prevail.  Let  us,  then,  as  a 
race,  choose  wisely  and  well  our  weapons  of 
defense.  They  might  well  be  both  offensive 
and  defensive  so  long  as  they  aid  us  in  all 
laudable  efforts  in  securing  for  ourselves  a 
right  beginning.  Strength  is  most  necessary  ; 
strength  on  the  right  of  us,  strength  on  the 
left,  and  in  the  center. 

While  negro  leadership  in  the  Southern 
States,  as  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  to 
which  we  have  already  alluded,  was  a  signal 


SUFFRAGE  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  STATES.     39 

failure,  yet,  in  the  South  there  has  been  less 
disposition  to  deal  harshly  with  us  than  in 
the  District,  where,  under  a  republican  con 
gress  and  president  the  abolition  of  suffrage 
was  most  effective  and  complete. 

Apologists  in  the  District,  who  do  us  harm 
and  seek  to  conceal  the  real  facts  and  merit  of 
the  case,  tell  us  that  in  taking  away  suffrage 
from  the  negro  it  was  taken  away  from  the 
whites  as  well,  and  that  on  race  lines  it  was 
impartial.  Precisely  so,  if  one  does  not  wish 
to  consider  below  the  surface ;  but  a  hasty 
glance  at  the  District  pay-roll  displays  the 
fact  unmistakably  that  the  whites  manage  to 
take  good  care  of  themselves,  suffrage  or  no 
suffrage.  Let  us  admit  that  suffrage  in  the 
District  was  taken  away  from  us  because  of 
irresponsible  negro  voting.  All  this  time,  we 
in  the  South  have  been  reaping  some  of  the 
advantages  of  suffrage ;  especially  so  through 
the  advice  and  action  of  negro  democracy,  in 
their  encouragement  of  diversity  in  suffrage 
on  lines  suggested  by  dominant  and  demo 
cratic  leadership  ;  which  to  us  is  a  point  gained, 
meeting  as  it  does  the  approval  of  the  court 


40      PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

before  which  we  are  pleading.  We  must  not 
lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  our  real  purpose, 
through  our  well-chosen  weapons  of  defense, 
is  to  secure  to  ourselves  a  peace  basis,  honor 
able  alike  to  both  races.  Such  achievement, 
through  a  successful  reapproachment,  should 
be  considered  as  always  being  in  order,  which 
through  time  and  the  logic  of  events,  will  bring 
its  own  reward.  We,  by  this  discussion,  are 
seeking  to  bring  no  alarm,  but  to  state  facts 
and  conditions  which  history  and  our  judg 
ment  must  approve. 

A  colored  member  of  Congress,  in  the  pres 
ence  of  the  writer  once  stated  to  a  friend  that 
Mr.  Boutelle  of  Maine  had  applauded  him  on 
account  of  some  remark  he  had  just  made  in 
a  speech  on  the  floor  of  the  House.  We  re 
marked  to  this  friend,  after  the  departure  of 
the  colored  member,  that  he  might  have,  per 
haps,  said  something  clever  and  apt,  since  from 
our  point  Maine  issues  no  certificate  of  elec 
tion  to  negro  members  of  Congress,  not  even 
showing  a  disposition  of  encouraging  an  influx 
of  negro  labor  into  her  borders  ;  that  it  would 
have  been  more  apt  and  better  statesmanship 


SUFFRAGE   ix  THE  SOUTHERN   STATES.    41 

to  have  timed  his  remarks  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  have  brought  applause  from  a  member 
from  North  or  South  Carolina,  Louisiana,  or 
Mississippi,  rather  than  the  one  from  the 
Maine  member ;  and  yet,  perhaps,  he  was  ex 
cusable,  because  our  horizon  of  vision  is  yet 
limited,  our  discernment  or  discrimination  is 
not  enlarged  to  a  degree  sufficient  to  deal 
logically  with  difficult  and  delicate  points, 
though  involving  our  own  present  and  future 
well-being,  yet,  in  putting  ourselves  in  certain 
positions,  we  should  be  able  to  perform  a 
man's  or  a  statesman's  part.  In  advancing 
our  interest  we  should  be  able  to  take  advan 
tage  of  whatever  circumstances  or  conditions 
that  may  arise,  through  which  our  interest 
might  be  advanced  and  some  strength  gained, 
though  counting  only  one  in  our  favor,  which 
is  a  good  count,  since  it  oftentimes  determines 
the  result. 

Many  of  us  have  doubtless  observed,  espe 
cially  in  our  younger  days,  that  in  handling 
a  new  gun  we  are  never  quite  certain  of  the 
accuracy  of  our  aim  until  we  have  charged  and 
discharged  it  a  few  times,  notwithstanding 


42       PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

our  expert  use  and  familiarity  with  the  old 
fowling  piece,  experience  and  practice,  there 
fore,  being  essential  in  this  as  in  other  matters. 
In  the  acquisition  of  this  knowledge  much  time 
is  required  both  for  its  practice  and  a  correct 
study  of  its  effect.  As  in  small  matters,  so  in 
great ;  reaching  even  to  legislative  functions 
where  much  greater  responsibility  centers. 

Our  dependences  and  responsibilities,  our 
present  and  future  hope  alike  bid  us  so  to  adjust 
our  home,  material,  and  living  relations  as  to 
gain  for  us  more  strength,  strength  of  character, 
giving  us  anchorage,  defensible,  safe,  and 
secure,  at  once  relied  on  and  reliable.  In  the 
enlargement  of  our  ideas  and  a  readjustment 
of  our  basis  of  action,  intelligence  is  the  focus 
and  must  regulate  them.  It  possesses  all  the 
material  forces.  If,  therefore,  as  many  of  our 
leaders  practically  assert,  we  have  no  other 
or  higher  privilege  than  to  follow  these  self- 
styled  leaders,  then  we  have  no  need  of  intelli 
gence  ;  no  proper  claim  to  individual  responsi 
bility  in  governmental  affairs,  and  had  as  well 
now  bid  farewell  to  our  schools  ;  that  learn 
ing  is  a  myth.  The  writer,  however,  believes 


SUFFRAGE  IN  THE  SOUTHERN   STATES.    43 

differently.  In  order  to  outride  the  storm 
which  we  are  necessarily  forced  to  encounter, 
through  our  relations  to  society  as  freemen 
and  citizens,  the  highest  capabilities  of  each 
individual  must  be  brought  into  action  from 

o 

every  point  of  view  we  may  philosophically 
reason. 

It  is  claimed  that  in  some  states  there  exists 
an  abridgment  or  restriction,  in  a  sense,  in 
the  free  exercise  of  the  ballot.  If  this  be  true 
that  such  a  restriction  does  obtain,  let  us  seek 
to  find  the  cause,  if  there  be  one.  We  cannot 
have  great  difficulty  in  finding  one,  if  we  rea 
son  correctly --from  cause  and  effect;  tracing 
it,  directly,  to  the  period  of  our  control  in  the 
South,  especially  in  a  state  like  South  Carolina, 
where  we  were  absolute  in  every  way,  from 
alderman  to  governor ;  hence,  if  suffrage  has 
been  seriously  wounded,  through  our  own  acts, 
improvement  and  security  must  take  place 
there  and  by  those  who  played  a  part  or 
assisted  in  bringing  suffrage  into  disrepute. 
If,  under  the  then  leadership  and  our  blind 
following,  we  have  disgraced  suffrage  —  and 
who  will  say  we  did  not  —  a  duty  we  owe  to 


44      PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

ourselves  and  to  society,  as  well,  compels  a 
frank  avowal  of  the  truth  and  a  setting  about 
on  our  part  to  make  amends,  to  make  proper 
reparation,  which  must  be  clone  where  the 
wound  was  inflicted  and  from  whence  com 
plaints  are  made. 

It  is  only  necessary  to  enquire  into  the  pre 
sent  value  of  the  state  bonds  and  other  securi 
ties  where  we  held  undisputed  sway,  and  com 
pare  that  with  the  values  of  those  times  to 
convince  us  of  our  own  misrule  and  misman 
agement.  It  is  no  wonder  that  the  day  of 
reckoning  came  and  came  swiftly. 

Reformation  in  civil  government  is  as  nee- 

o 

essary  to  one  party  as  to  the  other.  It  is, 
therefore,  to  our  interest  to  enter  into  the 
same  spirit,  through  a  diversity  of  our  suffrage, 
in  order  to  repair  the  damage  we  have 
wrought.  The  conditions  for  our  improve 
ment  and  development  are  more  favorable  in 
the  South  than  in  any  other  section.  What 
ever  set-back  that  may  have  come  to  us  has 
been  through  our  own  fault  and  the  teachings 
and  leadership  of  those  who  led  us,  some  of 
whom,  although  remote  from  these  times, 


SUFFRAGE  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  STATES.    45 

might  be  cited  as  characterless  scoundrels, 
their  prominence  at  all  times  being  prejudi 
cial  to  our  progress  and  growth,  and  the  de 
velopment  of  that  friendly  relationship  be 
tween  the  races  —  capital  and  labor  of  those 
sections.  Hence  the  manifest  propriety  of  a 
successful  reapproachment  was  most  urgently 
demanded,  looking  to  a  full  and  fair  establish 
ment  of  a  permanent  peace  basis  and  a  proper 
and  correct  selection  of  our  weapons  of  de 
fense.  We  repeat,  that  the  fittest  in  govern 
ment  should  and  will  always  survive.  We 
cannot  hope  to  attain  to  the  full  capacity 
of  leaders  through  a  hop-skip-and-jump  fash 
ion,  nor  yet  by  league  strides.  Our  prog 
ress  must  be  steady,  steady  —  by  easy  strides  — 
step,  step,  step  by  step.  The  same  routes 
traversed  by  white  leaders  must  be  gone  over 
by  us,  else  what  will  our  leadership  be  ?  A 
miserable  failure. 

An  old  colored  man  asking  for  a  quart  of 
whisky  from  his  merchant  on  Saturday  night, 
was  asked  if  less  would  not  do  him,  when  he 
replied  :  "  No,  I  want  to  keep  the  Sabbath  to 
morrow.'*  "So  you  could  not  keep  it  on  less," 


46       PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

was  suggested.  "Oh,  yes,"  he  replied,  "but 
how  would  it  be  kept?"  In  the  same  way  we 
can  produce  leaders,  but  what  kind  would 
they  be  ?  No  better  than  the  former  under 
the  same  conditions. 

In  following  the  negro  leadership  of  those 
times  we  found  ourselves  environed  with  diffi 
culties  which  our  ignorance  and  poverty  was 
unable  to  compass.  The  writer  has  felt,  for 
some  time,  that  Miss  Ida  B.  Wells  and  her 
crusaders  are  doing  us  much  harm  in  bringing 
us  into  more  or  less  hostility  and  antagonism 
with  the  dominant  race,  where  we  are  to  live, 
die,  and  be  buried,  without  bringing  to  us  the 
slightest  equivalent,  which,  to  our  notion, 
renders  the  whole  crusade  of  doubtful  pro 
priety  so  far  as  anything  beneficial  accrues  to 
us.  Long  since  we  went  on  record  against 
and  touching  every  species  of  lawlessness 
and  violence,  and  at  the  proper  place,  where 
the  complained-of  wrongs  existed.  If  we 
really  seek  redress,  our  grounds  and  reasons 
must  be  set  forth  with  all  the  discretion  and 
discrimination  at  home,  and  not  away  from 
home. 


SUFFRAGE  ix  THE  SOUTHERN  STATES.    47 

While  boards  of  trade  and  other  commer 
cial  bodies,  and  many  white  presbyteries  and 
other  Christian  bodies,  have,  by  their  action, 
deprecated  and  deplored  violence  in  every 
form  and  in  every  section,  yet  I  do  not  recall 
of  having  seen  or  heard  of  a  single  minister 
of  a  negro  church  or  from  our  colored  leaders 
calling  upon  the  negro  men  of  the  race  to  so 
live  and  conduct  themselves  that  no  suspicion 
can  attach  to  them  of  the  crimes  alleged  to 
have  been  committed.  Miss  Wells  could,  we 
think,  better  devote  her  time  and  talents  to  a 
much  better  cause,  than  trying  to,  from  long 
range,  stir  up  strife  among  the  whites  of  the 
South  against  the  colored  people  of  that 
section. 

If  she  would  start  a  crusade  against  the 
crimes  and  immoralities  which  we  know  too 
well  exist  among  our  race  ;  if  she  would  de 
vote  her  energies  in  teaching  better  and  high 
er  morals  among  us,  in  our  homes  and  in  the 
communities  where  we  are  in  large  numbers, 
she  would  be  doing  a  service  much  needed. 

In  any  community  where  a  low  state  of  in 
dustry  prevails,  a  low  state  of  morals  obtains, 


48       PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

thus  proving  demoralizing  to  our  inherent  in 
terest,  growth,  and  the  development  of  our 
best  qualities. 

The  action  of  Miss  Wells  and  those  en 
gaged  in  this  uncalled-for  crusade,  is  more 
liable  to  occasion  greater  mischief,  resulting 
in  more  harm  and  permanent  injury  to  us  than 
those  they  seem  to  desire  to  check,  without, 
at  any  time,  suggesting  a  single  possible  rem 
edy,  or  the  bringing  to  us  strength  at  home, 
where  most  needed  and  most  desired. 

We  doubtless  have  grievances,  in  many 
respects  embarrassing,  oppressive,  and  of  a 
serious  nature,  exasperating  and  offensive. 
These,  however,  are  found  to  exist  in  almost 
every  state  in  the  Union,  being  allied  to  and 
interwoven  in  the  adjustment  of  a  proper  re 
lationship  which  should  obtain  between  races. 

The  late  Right  Reverend  Bishop  John  M, 
Brown,  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  informed  the  writer  that  even  the 
church,  through  its  pulpit,  had  been  used  as 
an  instrument  of  political  tyranny  against 
those  who  had  chanced  to  differ  from  repub 
lican  negro  leaders  as  to  methods  of  proce- 


SUFFRAGE  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  STATES.   49 

dure,  looking  to  the  betterment  and  improve 
ment  of  the  mass  of  our  race. 

We  have,  however,  reason  to  hope  that  such 
malign  influences,  whether  religious  or  polit 
ical,  or  of  whatever  character,  will,  under  the 
operation  of  more  liberal  and  enlightened 
teachings,  soon  and  forever  cease.  This  can 
be  done,  very  largely,  through  negro  democ 
racy  and  independent  thinking  men  and  wo 
men,  who  should  be  developing,  as  a  heritage 
of  human  progress. 

In  seeking  the  co-operation  and  good  will 
of  the  dominant  race  in  all  our  laudable 
efforts  to  attain  to  higher  civilization,  let  us, 
in  their  willingness  to  go  with  us  a  furlong, 
meet  them  half-way  —  rather,  go  a  mile,  if 
needs  be,  and  by  every  honest  endeavor,  for 
the  good  of  each  and  of  all,  the  softening  of 
race  hostilities  —  as  one  of  the  greatest  factors 
in  the  formation  of  a  proper  and  lasting  senti 
ment,  which  will,  by  reason  of  its  strength, 
most  commend  itself  to  friend  and  foe  alike  ; 
so  that  in  the  phenomena  of  our  make-up,  no 
cloud  or  mystery  can  obscure  it. 


50       PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

Having  no  distinction  of  ancestry  on  our 
own  account,  our  plain  duty  is  to  follow  a 
leadership  which  represents  the  higher  quali 
ties  of  law  and  order,  else  we  must  be  left  to 
live  or  die  as  the  fates  might  decree. 

Right  here  it  strikes  the  writer  to  suggest 
that  some  of  our  negro  republican  leaders  are 
laying  claim  to  ancestral  distinction  a  little 
mite  too  early,  placing  us  in  an  attitude  of 
awkward  and  doubtful  defense.  The  mere 
dealing  in  fancy  flights  of  refinement  and 
aristocratic  notions  scarcely  meets  the  require 
ments. 

The  feeling  being  yet  opportune  for  a  favor 
able  reapproachment,  any  act  on  our  part 
which  subverts  or  reverses  this  sentiment  is 
harmful  and  operates  to  our  detriment.  The 
community  standing  we  must  seek  can  only 
be  secured  through  the  confidence  the  domi 
nant  race  may  have  in  us.  Without  this  con 
fidence  the  progress  of  the  negro  race  in  this 
country  must  and  will  be  retrograding.'  Our 
own  efforts  must  be  brought  into  requisition 
if  we  would  surmount  these  and  like  formid 
able  difficulties.  What  we  are  to  be  in  this 


SUFFRAGE  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  STATES.    51 

country  is  in  our  own  hands, —  we  can  make  it 
what  we  would  ;  but  it  cannot  be  done  on  the 
lines  laid  down  by  our  negro  republican  lead 
ers  or  by  Miss  Wells  and  those  who  are  assist 
ing-  her  in  her  "  mission  "  of  stirring  up  strife 
between  the  races,  which  will  require  time  to 
obliterate. 

We  have  been  reproached  and  even  ridi 
culed  by  the  negro  republican  leaders  on 
account  of  our  defense  of  and  long  continu 
ance  in  the  democratic  party ;  even  by  party 
friends  of  both  races  on  account  of  the  lack 
of  recognition  received  by  us  from  President 
Cleveland. 

Some  years  ago,  while  the  great  post-office 
at  Glasgow,  Scotland,  was  on  fire  and  the 
engines  were  playing  upon  the  flames,  a  shrill 
voice  was  heard  to  cry  out  from  the  crowd 
below:  "Play  on  the  bag  from  Inverness! 
Play  on  the  bag  from  Inverness!"  This  was 
startling.  Upon  inquiry  it  was  found  that 
the  mail-bag  from  Inverness  contained  a  let 
ter  for  this  man.  He  was  willing  to  see  the 
whole  building,  together  with  its  great  in 
terests,  consumed  if  the  bag  containing  his 


52       PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

letter  was  saved.  So  while  we  have  felt  and 
do  feel  deeply  wounded,  and,  we  submit,  not^ 
without  reason,  owing  to  our  attitude  as 
a  negro  democrat,  being  less  able,  without 
assistance,  to  protect  ourselves,  our  position 
having  brought  us  into  direct  antagonism 
with  the  negro  republican  leaders  and  their 
followers ;  being  forced  to  beg  the  crumbs 
falling  from  their  tables,  this  failure  of  recog 
nition  has  brought  to  us  great  embarrassment 
and  done  us  great  injustice.  Yet  the  lines  we 
have  traced  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  we  shall 
seek  to  follow  to  the  end,  being  thereby  con 
vinced  that  they  carry  along  with  principal 
and  interest  of  our  future  welfare,  growth, 
and  development,  regardless  of  our  personal 
welfare. 

If  personal  recognition  be  contingent  upon 
the  destruction  or  even  impairing  in  any  way 
the  structure  we  have  sought  to  build,  rather 
let  personal  recognition  go, —  perish  the  letter 
from  "  Inverness,"  and  save  the  great  struc 
ture  and  its  contents  of  valuables. 

Few  politicians  will  place  their  allies,  or 
allow  them  to  be  placed,  be  they  white  or 


SUFFRAGE  ix  THE  SOUTHERN  STATES.    53 

black,  in  a  false  attitude,  in  order  that  they 
may  be  the  more  easily  assailed.  No  great 
man,  no  great  statesman,  would  do  so.  Their 
sense  of  fairness,  of  justice,  and  humanity  can 
always  be  relied  upon.  With  all  great  men, 
all  broad-minded  men,  the  right  of  might  is 
always  subordinated  to  the  claims  of  the  weak, 
defenseless,  yet  friendly  allies. 

Our  chief  vocation  in  the  past,  without  the 
whys  or  wherefores,  has  been  to  follow  our 
negro  republican  leaders  therefore,  leading 
us  invariably  to  outside  interests,  rather  than 
to  home  influences,  requirements,  and  duties. 

The  pacific  nature  of  our  moral  and  mental 
characteristics  should  be  brought  into  full 
play,  leaving  nothing  undone  on  our  part  not 
only  to  correct  the  abuses  and  misfortunes  of 
the  past,  but  lead  us  to  a  more  promising 
future. 

In  our  opinion  the  great  fame  of  Fred'k 
Douglass,  which  has  safe  anchorage  and  must 
stand,  rests,  rather,  upon  his  anti-slavery  rec 
ord  than  any  subsequent  leadership  of  his. 

Some  years  ago  the  writer,  on  being  re- 
elected  President  of  the  John  M.  Palmer 


54   PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

•*• 
Democratic  Club  of  tne  District  of  Columbia, 

the  oldest  negro  club  in :  point  of  organiza 
tion  in  the  country,  delivered  the  following 
address,  which  may  not  be  out  of  place  in  this 
work  :  - 

Dr.  Jerome  R.  Riley,  being  elected  presi 
dent,  spoke  as  follows  : 

"  Members  of  the  John  M.  Palmer  Demo 
cratic  Club  of  the  District,  while  thanking  you 
most  heartily  for  this  evidence  of  your  confi 
dence  and  esteem,  I  promise,  God  willing,  to 
do  all  in  my  power  to  further  its  interests  and 
promote  its  objects. 

"  Before  touching  briefly  some  of  the  causes 
governing  our  past  and  present  political  action 
and  affiliation,  you  will,  I  trust,  in  the  interest 
of  the  cause  we  seek  to  promote  and  advance, 
and  of  truth,  which  demagogues  may  seek  to 
pervert,  pardon  me  a  moment's  personal  refer 
ence  : 

"Early  in  the  year  1874,  with  a  republican 
President  and  Congress,  overwhelmingly  so  in 
both  branches,  under  a  republican  state  gov 
ernment  in  Arkansas,  and  in  a  county  largely 
so,  and  is  yet,  I  was  holding  the  office  as  a 
republican  of  county  physician  and  acting  cor 
oner,  which  I  endeavored  to  fill  to  the  best 


SUFFRAGE  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  STATES.    55 

of  my  ability  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
people.  How  far  F  succeeded  in  this  I  am 
willing  to  leave  to  prominent  republicans  who 
were  leaders  in  the  political  action  and  activi 
ties  of  their  party  now  living  in  this  city. 
Indeed,  I  am  quite  willing  that  all  concerned, 
of  any  party,  shall  render  verdict  on  this 
point. 

"  After  a  fair  and  conscientious  study  of  men, 
methods,  and  measures,  governing  the  two, 
parties  in  all  their  bearings,  and  with  the  sin 
gle  purpose  of  promoting  peace  and  the  wel 
fare  of  both  races,  I  was  reluctantly  forced  to 
sever  the  ties,  and  urged  a  division  of  our 
votes  on  other  than  mere  party  lines,  right  or 
wrong,  as  a  necessity  if  negro  suffrage  were  to 
become  not  to  say  popular,  but  even  tolerant, 
which  can  only  be  brought  about  by  a  division 
of  the  colored  voters.  'A  race  problem,'  se 
rious  and  unmistakable,  had  to  be  met.  While 
'  four-fifths  of  the  people  of  the  globe  may  or 
may  not  be  of  darker  hue  than  the  able  repre 
sentative  of  our  race,'  who  makes  this  asser 
tion,  yet  the  conditions  in  this  country  are 
such  that  the  problem  is  here  to  stay  until 
solved,  gainsay  it  as  one  may* 

"The  failure,  yea,  the  total  collapse  of  suf 
frage   in  this   district  on   the   account  of  irre- 


56       PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

sponsible  negro  voting  under  our  highest  and 
ideal  leadership,  gave  ample  opportunity  for 
questioning  our  fitness  for  its  use.  The  repub 
lican  administration  came  up  promptly  to  the 
relief  of  the  people  here  by  abolishing  it.  The 
grievances  in  the  South  were  more  serious, 
threatening,  and  urgent,  but  minus  the  remedy 
that  obtained  here. 

"The  worst  feature  of  the  negro's  trouble 
has  been  from  a  false  rating  which  has  been 
given  us  by  our  would-be  friends,  by  valuing  us 
by  our  future  possibility,  or  judging  the  whole 
by  a  few  'lumps  of  leaven'  within  our  fold, 
who  have  made  most  remarkable  progress  in 
learning,  literature,  and  even  statesmanship ; 
and  as  it  is  not  the  whole  that  need  a  physi 
cian,  neither  is  it  such  as  these  by  which  the 
wants,  capabilities,  and  needs  of  the  whole 
should  be  summed  up,  thus  placing  us  in  a 
position  where  more  is  demanded  than  should 
be  expected  of  us.  A  forced  growth,  without 
the  proper  means  of  self-reliance,  self-suste 
nance,  or  self-dependence.  Our  troubles  may 
all  have  arisen  '  from  his  two-hundred  years' 
servitude  in  this,  and  ages  of  barbarism  in  an 
other  country,'  as  one  of  our  number  has  lately 
said,  but  they  are  just  as  real  all  the  same,  and 
must  be  met.  The  situation  demanded  either 


SUFFRAGE  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  STATES.    57 

a  change  of  political  leadership  on  our  part, 
or  a  readjustment  of  political  action,  and  upon 
other  principles  had  we  been  wise  at  that  time. 
Failing,  then,  we  had  to  go  it  alone.  The 
old  and  weather-beaten  refrain,  *  United  we 
stand,  divided  we  fall,'  and  the  'Negro  who 
votes  with  the  democrats  is  an  enemy  of  his 
race,' would  not  suffice.  Something  more  was 
wanted.  We  found  that  in  our  unity  lay  our 
weakness ;  that  the  mere  strength  of  numbers 
was  brittle ;  real  strength  could  only  come  by 
a  diversion  of  our  acts  of  suffrage. 

"  To  illustrate  further  my  ideas  of  a  divided 
or  dual  policy  by  our  people,  let  me  refer  to 
the  division  of  leadership  in  celebrating  our 
Emancipation  Day.  Every  close  observer 
must  have  noted  a  progress  in  the  manner  in 
which  that  day  has  been  celebrated  since  a  di 
versity  of  opinion  has  arisen,  though  sometimes 
fierce  and  bitter,  yet  it  has  had  a  tendency  to 
eliminate  some  of  the  most  objectionable  fea 
tures  from  that  display.  While  one  faction 
has  been  watching  the  other  with  eager  eye 
to  criticism,  many  a  foolish  custom  has  been 
lopped  off  that  always  obtains  without  oppo 
sition  while  under  the  guardianship  of  a  one- 
man  power.  Now  more  intelligent  methods 


58       PHILOSOPHY  OF   NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

have  crept  in  through  the  breach  that  a  di 
vided  opinion  has  made  possible  ;  for  instance, 
instead  of  having  'four  queens  in  a  pack,'  as 
heretofore,  this  year  there  were  none. 

"The  evolution  of  our  social,  political,  and 
industrial  relations,  therefore,  are  matters  of 
the  gravest  concern.  A  diversity  in  industrial 
relations  solves  the  problem  for  us  or  any 
other  people.  Why  not  in  the  political 
sphere  ?  While  we  do  not  ascribe  mercenary 
motives  to  our  leaders,  yet  their  leadership  has 
been  mischievous,  misleading,  and  disastrous. 
Moreover,  they  must  have  read  real  history  to 
very  little  purpose  not  to  know  that  intelli 
gence  and  wealth  dominated  legislation  and 
commerce  the  world  over. 

"  Let  me  give  a  single  example  of  what  was 
the  rule  in  the  South,  in  the  county  of  Jeffer 
son,  one  of  the  richest  in  the  state  of  Arkan 
sas,  in  which  was  situated  the  city  of  Pine 
Bluff,  ranking,  I  believe,  next  to  Memphis  as 
a  cotton  market.  Here  the  varied  interests  of 
legislation  affecting  a  rich  and  populous  com 
munity  came  up  for  consideration.  At  the 
head  of  the  republican  legislative  ticket  in 
1875  was  Mr-  Ned  Hill,  colored,  who  could 
neither  read  nor  write,  but  whose  fighting 
weight  was  two  hundred  pounds,  drunk  or 


SUFFRAGE  ix  THE  SOUTHERN  STATES.    59 

sober.  His  ticket  was  overwhelmingly  elect 
ed.  At  that  time  he,  or  even  Judas  Iscariot, 
if  branded  with  the  party  stamp,  could  just  as 
easily  have  defeated  Gov.  Garland  or  Major 
Breckenridge,  or  any  one  else  in  the  front 
rank  of  statesmanship.  Our  friends  tell  us 
that  all  white  legislators  are  not  statesmen. 
Precisely  so,  but  the  white  record  is  made. 
Theirs  is  the  civilization  of  the  realm  ;  our 
traditional  and  universal  record  was  that  we 
were  ignorant,  indolent,  and  would  steal,  and 
therefore  incapable  of  self-government.  The 
contrary  is  what  we  had  to  prove,  and  refute 
this  accusation,  a  fact  not  yet  learned,  or,  if 
learned,  not  acted  upon. 

"The  solution  of  the  great  race  problem 
was  wholly  in  our  own  hands.  In  the  South 
it  had  to  be  solved,  the  essential  conditions 
being  more  favorable  there  than  anywhere 
else.  The  first  prerequisite  was  peace  and 
mutual  confidence,  there  being  a  commingling 
of  interests  between  races.  The  whites  were 
ready  to  receive  fair  proposals  rather  than  dic 
tate  terms  at  that  time.  In  our  poverty  and 
ignorance  we  were  not  prepared  for  war,  not 
even  friction  with  our  white  neighbor, 
although  we  were  often  hoodwinked  to  be 
lieve  the  contrary.  We  cannot  deny  the  fact 


60       PHILOSOPHY  OF   NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

that  the  general  government  itself  was  not 
more  than  prepared  for  war  with  the  South. 
These  suggestions  apply  with  equal  force  to 
day.  A  peace  basis  was  our  only  hope  to 
secure  to  us  a  public  sentiment  which  would 
insure  a  minority  representation  of  value  that 
would  be  lasting  and  permanent.  It  was  our 
misfortune  and  not  our  fault  that  we  were 
ignorant  and  poor,  yet  nevertheless  true,  and 
should  have  been  taken  into  account  during 
that  period.  Even  now  this  matter  will  bear 
the  close  attention  of  our  race.  In  a  measure 
we  were  unable  to  appreciate  the  dignity  and 
sovereignty  of  citizenship,  and  that  the  safety 
of  state  depended  upon  its  sovereign  use. 
We  were  swayed  by  passion  and  sentiment 
rather  than  reason.  To  us  party  was  sover 
eign  rather  than  the  citizen.  We  emerged 
from  bodily  to  intellectual  slavery.  Our 
actions,  the  policies  of  our  leaders,  often  en 
tangled  us  in  the  meshes  of  trouble  from 
which  there  was  no  escape.  The  white  peo 
ple  of  the  South  have  their  shortcomings,  as 
you  and  I  and  all  do,  but  the  same  sentiment 
of  humanity  actuate  them  that  do  other  people 
the  world  over. 

"Some     deny    that     democrats     have    ever 
shown  a  willingness  to  have  us  cooperate  on 


SUFFRAGE  ix  THE  SOUTHERN  STATES.    61 

any  basis  politically:  True  ;  some  opportuni 
ties  may  have  been  neglected  on  their 
part.  Efforts  and  a  willingness  have  been 
shown,  as  in  the  state  of  Arkansas,  by  putting 
the  name  of  Mr.  E.  A.  Fulton,  colored,  on  the 
democratic  ticket  for  secretary  of  state,  and 
giving  it  their  hearty  support  in  1872.  The 
same  also  in  the  case  of  Mr.  T.  W.  Stringer, 
colored,  of  Mississippi,  for  secretary  of  state 
with  the  approval  and  support  of  the  demo 
crats.  The  democratic  state  ticket  of  South 
Carolina  in  1874  was  headed  by  Judge  Green 
for  governor,  and  Major  Martin  R.  Delaney, 
colored,  for  lieutenant-governor.  The  sup 
port  given  him  was  not  only  loyal  but  intense, 
as  Senator  Butler  has  said.  Judge  Samuel 
Lee  informed  me  that  he  received  every  dem 
ocratic  vote  in  his  district  for  Congress  against 
Joseph  H.  Raney. 

"  I  might  multiply  instances  similar,  but  it  is 
unnecessary,  as  enough  has  been  stated  to  show 
that  the  party  has  not  been  backward  in 
this  respect.  But  our  tenderest  corns  have 
always  been  hurt  at  the  thought  of  voting  with 
the  democrats.  We  should  not  continue  as  a 
menace  dangerous  and  intolerable  to  the  peace, 
harmony,  and  prosperity  of  the  South  by  re 
fusing  to  divide  our  suffrage.  A  free  govern- 


62       PHILOSOPHY  OF   NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

ment  is  based  on  the  intelligence  of  its  voters  ; 
herein  lies  its  safety.  On  this  line  the  fittest 
must  survive.  We  have  bred  statesmen,  but 
of  the  undergrowth  sort,  with  marvelous 
rapidity.  They  have  seemed  indigenous  with 
the  soil,  yes,  perennial.  Indeed,  they  have 
grown  at  the  expense  of  other  and  more  im 
portant  growths,  namely,  the  value  and  dignity 
of  agricultural  labor  have  been  kept  in  the 
background,  in  which  vocation  we  have  had 
some  training  and  experience  and  in  which  we 
can  be  the  peers  of  any  race.  We  have  been 
dealing  with  the  mint,  anise,  and  cummin  of 
politics  and  have  neglected  the  weightier  mat 
ters  that  develop  the  character  of  a  race.  In 
this  direction  our  moneyed  men,  especially 
those  who  have  reaped  a  full  financial  harvest 
on  the  ground  and  strength  of  race  representa 
tion,  should  be  our  pioneers.  What  we  had 
hoped  from  a  national-  point  of  view  was, 
that  the  Republican  United  States  Supreme 
Court  would  have  guaranteed  to  us  in  our 
weakness  the  same  protection  that  it  did  to 
Mr.  Justice  Field  ;.  but  they  sent  us  to  the 
states,  there  to  work  out  our  own  salvation.  I 
have  always  favored  by  word  and  deed  a  most 
rigid  execution  of  the  laws  against  all  violence, 
political  or  otherwise,  and  clo  still.  In  other 


SUFFRAGE  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  STATES.    63 

places  besides  the  South  are  continually  occur- 
ing  outbreaks  between  white  laborers  of  differ 
ent  nationalities,  resulting  in  bloodshed,  due 
to  too  close  crowding  on  the  labor  field.  We 
are  apt  to  have  more  or  less  crowding  in  the 
political  arena.  Our  misfortune  has  always 
been  in  these  political  crowding  contests,  that 
we  have  been  all  found  on  the  one  side.  I 
have  known  reckless  republican  politicians  who, 
for  the  sake  of  political  gain,  would  fain 
jeopardize  the  lives  of  our  families  at  any 
moment  to  serve  their  own  political  turn. 

"  I  repeat  again,  we  must  have  peace,  that  our 
prosperity  and  progress  may  have  their  full 
development  and  the  real  strength  of  our 
character  shown.  The  magnanimity  shown  to 
colored  office-holders  by  Mr.  Cleveland  and 
his  administration  was  without  parallel  and 
will  remain  so,  and  a  marked  contrast  to  the 
present  administration,  which  removed  the  few 
colored  men  whose  republicanism  was  the  last 
engrafted,  even  those  supposed  to  be  protected 
by  the  civil  service.  The  colored  Voters  in  Ohio 
are  being  appealed  to  to  save  the  state  to  Maj. 
McKinley,  but  we  doubt  their  willingness  to 
be  hoodwinked  and  to  follow  as  in  1888,  es 
pecially  on  the  tariff  issue.  The  action  of 
republicans  in  Ohio  and  elsewhere  in  the 


64       PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

adoption  into  their  platforms  and  speeches  the 
cardinal  and  time-honored  principles  of  the 
democrats,  namely  free  sugar  and  freer  trade, 
or,  as  it  is  termed,  reciprocity,  but  universally 
known  as  freer  trade.  And  this  fact  lends 
peculiar  significance  to  our  espousal  of  the 
democratic  creed,  because  we  believe  that  it 
embodies  principles  more  conducive  to  the 
happiness  of  the  masses  as  against  the  classes. 
Why  should  not  I,  if  agreeable  to  both  of  us, 
be  allowed  to  swap  jack-knives  with  my  old 
school  fellow,  Jim  Broaclbent  of  Kent  County, 
Canada  ?  Or  to  carry  the  suggestion  still 
farther,  why  not  be  allowed  to  exchange  a 
bale  of  cotton  from  the  South  for  tin  pans 
in  Liverpool  without  the  government  step 
ping  in  and  claiming  a  few  of  the  pans  ? 
We  have  found  the  Canadian  and  English 
people  we  have  met  a  fair  dealing  folk,  I 
dare  say,  as  much  so  as  any  South  Americans. 
"  Many  republicans  to-day  in  their  exuber 
ance  of  spirit  assert  that,  having  stolen  the 
democrats'  thunder,  confidently  expect  to  elect 
their  president  by  it.  A  casual  glance  in  states 
where  a  high  protection  is  demanded  will  show 
that  free-trade  in  foreign  labor  has  been  the 
rule,  and  protection  to  American  labor,  white 
and  black,  the  exception.  A  more  critical  in- 


SUFFRAGE  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  STATES.    65 

vestigation  will  carry  you  still  further,  even  to 
the  importation  of  foreign  domestics.  To  the 
cheapest  market  these  protectionists  have  gone 
for  bone  and  sinew.  A  glance  to  our  police 
court  record  shows  that  we  ourselves  have 
wrongs  to  right  as  well  as  rights  to  urge. 
That  a  higher  degree  of  morality,  honesty, 
sobriety,  attention  to  manual  labor,  faithful  in 
its  discharge,  are  needed. 

"While  we  surfer  from  the  effects  of  trade 
unions  that  exclude  our  young  men  from  en 
tering,  notwithstanding  this  we  should  do  all 
that  our  hands  find  to  do,  and  do  it  well.  Our 
well-ordered  homes,  our  schools,  and  our 
churches  have  much  to  do  through  faithful 
parents,  intelligent  and  devoted  teachers,  and 
ministers  in  this  work  of  reform.  And  this 
reminds  me,  during  the  ill-advised  agitation  in 
favor  of  the  force  bill  by  a  number  of  our 
people,  a  prominent  republican  remarked  to 
me  that  the  sharpest  speech  made  against  the 
democrats  and  in  favor  of  the  'equality  of  the 
negro '  was  made  by  a  colored  man,  who  never 
attend  our  schools  and  churches  because  they 
are  colored,  and  yet  urges  a  colored  represen 
tation  whenever  profitable.  That  is  clever,  of 
course,  and  even  sharp,  and  as  Gov.  Pinchback 


66       PHILOSOPHY  OF   NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

would  put  it,  'but  cowardly,'  and  I  submit  in 
such  cases,  which  are  very  rare,  white  repre 
sentation  would  be  preferable.  It  is  very 
essential  so  long  as  we  bear  race  distinction, 
race  identity,  and  urge  and  receive  race  repre 
sentation  on  behalf  of  race  that  we  should 
cultivate  a  larger  race  pride,  especially  in  our 
schools  and  churches. 

"  From  the  names  given  to  our  public 
schools  the  gratifying  idea  is  conveyed  that 
we  do  encourage  a  larger  race  pride.  What 
man,  woman,  or  child  of  us  that  did  not  take 
a  personal  pride  in  the  professional  standing, 
the  high  sense  of  honor,  dignity  of  character, 
and  great  benevolence  of  the  late  Dr.  Samuel 
LeCount  Cook.  All  remember  with  pride  the 
late  Miss  Briggs  as  an  educator,  and  Miss  Lucy 
Moten,  whose  success  has  been  most  marked, 
and  as  an  educator  has  few  equals.  Of  course 
there  might  be  here  and  there  a  trifling  excep 
tion.  Independence  of  character  and  cash  are 
the  great  solvents  of  the  problem. 

"  In  conclusion  let  me  say,  let  us  in  all  these 
questions  have  strength  of  character  enough 
to  view  them  in  all  their  bearings  dispas 
sionately,  that  we  may  determine  which  is 
right  and  which  is  wrong  and  false,  that  we 
may  hold  fast  only  to  that  which  is  good  and 


SUFFRAGE  ix  THE  SOUTHERN  STATES.    67 

true.  And  if  by  our  organization  we  should 
succeed  in  directing  thought  in  independent 
channels,  unbiased  by  party  prejudices,  our 
efforts  will  not  have  been  in  vain." 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE  ATLANTA  EXPOSITION  AND  THE 
BENEFITS  TO  ACCRUE  THEREFROM 
TO  THE  NEGRO  RACE  AND  OUR  DUTY 
IN  CONNECTION  THEREWITH. 

THE  first  and  only  opportunity  offered  in 

•     ^     this  or  any  other  country  for  the  display 

of    our  industrial  progress  or  whatever 

intellectual  genius  we   may  possess  has  been 

given  us  through  the  Atlanta  Exposition. 

This  opportunity  coming  to  us  as  it  does  in 
the  best  form  and  under  most  favorable 
auspices  from  the  responsible  leaders  of 
government  and  civilization,  among  whom 
we  live  unquestionably  showing  hope  and  con 
fidence  in  our  future.  We  can  ill  afford  to 
neglect  to  improve  the  chances  held  out  to  us, 
showing  as  it  does,  that  the  initial  step  has 
certainly  been  taken  and  in  the  right  direction. 
In  this  invitation  we  are  made  to  feel  and 
comprehend  philosophically  that  whatever 

(08) 


THE  ATLANTA  EXPOSITION.  69 

efforts  we  may  have  made  toward  the  establish 
ment  of  harmonious  relations  through  a  peace 
basis  are  beginning  to  bear  fruit.  For  the 
scheme  we  bespeak  great  success  which  will 
redound  to  our  lasting  credit  and  much  bene 
fit,  in  spite  of  the  cold  shoulder  given  it  on 
the  part  of  the  negro  republican  leaders,  which 
can  be  traced  to  political  rather  than  material 
reasons.  This  exposition  has  its  origin  in  the 
best  sentiment  and  most  popular  representa 
tives  of  those  whose  interest  is  advanced  even 
by  that  of  our  own  and  should  meet  with 
our  heartiest  encouragement  and  best  efforts 
in  its  advancement. 

The  colored  commissioners  of  the  District 
of  Columbia  are  made  up  from  the  best,  most 
intellectual  representative  and  progressive  men 
and  women  of  our  race.  The  zeal  and  energy 
with  which  they  have  set  about  the  task  as 
signed  them  is  highly  commendable  and  evi 
dently  knows  no  such  word  as  failure.  En 
couragement  of  this  commission  should  not  be 
confined  to  race  lines  but  should  extend  to  all 
feeling  an  interest  in  our  advancement,  carry 
ing,  as  it  does,  much  concern  to  eight  million 


70      PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

citizens.  This  exposition  is,  at  once,  prospec 
tive  and  retrospective,  and  whatever  has  been 
mere  speculation  in  the  past  respecting  us 
can  and  will  now  be  made  into  history.  To 
our  white  fellow  citizens,  desiring  the  advance 
ment  of  labor  and  the  development  of  good 
citizenship,  an  appeal,  we  feel,  will  not  be  in 
vain.  From  this  class  the  commissioners  we 
hope  and  trust  will  receive  substantial  aid. 

We  appeal  to  our  white  friends  in  this  effort 
of  ours,  feeling  that  it  is  one  which  gives 
promise  of  good  results,  through  the  promo 
tion  of  a  more  stable  and  harmonious  rela 
tionship,  being  an  encouragement  to  labor, 
its  value  and  dignity  as  well,  since  any  im 
provement  to  negro  labor  brings  greater  com 
pensation  and  its  attendant  benefits,  resulting 
to* our  benefit  and  lasting  gain. 

Let  us  as  a  race  contribute  our  full  share 
toward  the  success  of  this  exposition.  Let 
our  exhibits  be  varied,  full,  and  complete. 
We  believe  this  should  be  made  superior  to 
any  former  efforts  in  this  direction,  being  de 
signed  to  form  a  basis  of  race  pride,  and  a 
better  citizenship. 


THE  ATLANTA  EXPOSITION.  71 

To  our  mind,  this  effort  should  form  a 
grand  and  successful  epoch  in  the  history  of 
our  race  development,  so  that  our  brothers 
and  sisters,  throughout  the  South  especially, 
will  gratefully  remember  this  work,  which  must 
stand  as  one  of  the  initial  steps  toward  a 
higher  civilization  ;  then  we  shall,  in  race 
mechanism,  be  encouraged  ;  then  we  shall,  in 
meritorious  conduct  of  men  and  women,  be 
rewarded  and  habits  of  industry  encouraged  ; 
then  we  shall  for  ourselves  observe  a  system 
of  civilization  inaugurated  and  good  results 
following,  our  children  educated  in  a  higher 
and  nobler  life  to  their  lasting  benefit  ;  then 
we  shall  obtain  a  knowledge  concerning  our 
progress,  and  grounds  for  future  hope  will  be 
made  practically  apparent. 

Since,  as  a  race,  we  were  given  no  chance, 
certainly  no  encouragement,  to  participate  in 
the  Columbian  Exposition,  that  we  might 
show  to  the  civilized  world  what  progress  we 
had  made  since  our  emancipation,  it  doubly 
behooves  us,  since  the  management  at  Atlanta 
has  made  special  efforts  in  our  behalf,  to  clo 
all  in  our  power  not  only  to  show  our  appre- 


72       PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

elation  but  to  make  as  creditable  a  showing  as 
lies  in  our  power.  Hence  to  our  minds  this 
opportunity  is  far-reaching  in  its  consequences 
and  results. 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE      LABOR     QUESTION      DISCUSSED - 
THE    BENEFITS    WHICH    MUST    COME 
TO      THE      NEGRO      THROUGH      THIS 
FIELD. 

rnHROUGHOUT  America  and  civilized 
r  >  Europe  the  chief  concern  of  many  of 
the  leading  statesmen  is  the  betterment 
of  labor.  No  statesman  of  note  can  be  found 
willing  to  go  on  record  as  championing  any 
cause  inimical  to  labor  and  its  highest  devel 
opment. 

We,  as  a  race,  have  no  weapon  of  defense 
which  we  can  wield  with  greater  effect  and 
force  than  labor,  labor  from  the  stumpage  up. 
Through  the  channels  of  labor  the  future  of 
our  cause  advanced,  and  the  solution  of  the 
race  problem  largely  solved.  Remembering 
that  not  only  is  a  race  problem  to  be  solved 
but  a  great  human  cause  to  be  subserved.  In 

4  (73) 


74       PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

the  field  of  labor  our  position  can  be  made 
commanding,  as  its  principle  and  knowledge 
may  be  said  to  enter  somewhat  into  our  tradi 
tional  history,  always  bringing  strength  and 
value,  progress  and  morality  following  most 
certainly  in  its  wake.  In  this  field,  under 
proper  conditions  and  leadership,  we  can  be 
more  successful  pioneers  from  start  to  'finish. 
Through  this  field  the  best  forces  we  possess, 
for  our  development,  are  brought  into  requisi 
tion. 

Embarking  in  this  field,  we  believe  it  is  one 
of  the  most  certain  routes  giving  promise  of 
the  achievement  of  success  and  insuring  a  safe 
foundation  upon  which  to  stand. 

Our  negro  republican  leaders  seem  to  be 
unable  to  comprehend  the  great  changes 
which  have  been  brought  about  in  the  fabric 

o 

of  this  government  and  to  foretell  future 
events  or  to  judge  of  consequences,  so  largely 
dependent  upon  our  own  actions.  We  have 
felt  that  these  leaders  have  indulged  us  over- 

o 

much  in  what  they  are  pleased  to  term  our 
liberties. 

The    real    significance    in    the    moral    and 


THE   LABOR  QUESTION.  75 

material  growth  of  liberty  is  its  rise  and 
progress  toward  a  higher  civilization,  and  just 
in  the  proportion  as  we  understand  and  com 
prehend  our  duties,  obligations,  and  respon 
sibilities.  In  this  direction  lies  the  surest 
guarantee  to  substantial  liberty ;  and  above 
all  else,  we  cannot  afford  to  be  blind  to  the 
real  nature  and  power  of  our  obligations. 
Resting  under  liberty's  call,  one  of  the  strong 
est  armors  of  defense  which  we  possess  is 
labor. 

This  field  is  consistent  with  our  power  and 
resources,  giving  us  our  best  and  most  success 
ful  route  along  the  line  of  our  progress,  the 
one  traveled  by  the  dominant  race  in  their 
development  of  a  civilization  the  world  over. 

Let  this,  then,  be  the  channel  through 
which  we  shall  travel. 

Whatever  diversity  may  follow  along  this 
route,  of  whatever  character  it  may  be,  so  long 
as  it  is  honest,  impressed  as  we  are  with  its 
value  and  dignity,  let  it  be  labor,  honest  labor. 
We  uncover  our  head  to  labor  and  stand  in 
reverence,  when  we  fully  comprehend  it  as 
a  potent  factor  in  civilization.  Labor  brings 


76       PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

us  to  the  nearest  possible  approach  to  equal 
terms  with  dominant  civilization  and  its  influ 
ences  everywhere.  Especially  is  this  true  of 
the  South,  bringing,  as  it  does,  more  freedom 
and  peace,  entering  into  the  establishment  of 
a  peace  basis  so  much  sought. 

This  is  essentially  our  field ;  in  it  we  can 
become  the  peer  of  the  proudest.  This  we 
can  say  from  personal  knowledge  and  experi 
ence  ;  in  this  field  we  can  hoe  our  own  row, 
and,  if  we  will,  own  it,  with  none  to  dispute 
our  ownership.  Through  this  field  our  most 
practical  benefits  and  advantages  are  worked 
out,  thus  making  us  not  only  a  potent  factor 
in  that  line,  but  reaching  out  in  all  directions 
and  into  all  avenues. 

Moreover,  after  the  unceremonious  hauling 
down  of  our  colors  in  the  matter  of  suffrage 
in  the  District  of  Columbia,  under  the  gilt- 
edge  chieftains  in  their  attempt  at  leadership, 
the  indications  were  quite  clear  that  in  order 
to  extricate  ourselves  from  the  wreck  of  fail 
ure  all  along  the  line,  and  in  everything, 
we  should  take  anchorage  —  seek  a  basis  of 
operation  upon  firm  and  approved  ground,  in 


THE   LABOR  QUESTION.  77 

the  field  of  labor.  We  have  felt,  and  do  still 
feel,  that  in  this  field  a  safe  basis  could  and 
can  be  found  for  a  common  standing,  reach 
ing,  ultimately,  to  an  intelligent  understanding 
of  the  uses  and  abuses  of  manhood  and  citi 
zenship  ;  but  in  this,  as  in  other  great  fields 
of  human  effort,  looking1  forward  to  securing 

o  o 

the  best  average  benefit  to  our  race,  number 
ing  eight  millions  in  this  country.  And  right 
here  let  us  say,  and  with  emphasis  too,  that 
one  of  the  obstacles  to  our  progress  under 
our  new  aspects  and  relation  to  society  is  a 
want  of  inflexible  test  of  truth  and  falsehood, 
of  right  and  wrong.  These  qualities  and  vir 
tues  are  indispensable  to  our  race.  They  are 
especially  so  in  our  struggling,  as  we  honestly 
are,  for  a  basic  standing  bearing  the  test  of 
the  closest  scrutiny ;  thus  aiding  us  in  the 
most  patriotic  manner  to  discharge,  creditably 
and  acceptably,  the  high  functions  of  the 
citizen. 

The  result  of  both  experience  and  observa 
tion  convinces  us  that  we  are  most  at  home  in 
the  fields  of  labor. 

While  residing  in  Western  Canada  with  my 


78      PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

parents,  many  years  ago,  we  noticed  with 
great  profit  the  successful  founding  and  devel 
opment  of  a  negro  settlement,  and  that,  too, 
under  the  most  unfavorable  auspices  —  soil, 
climate,  and  production  were  alike  against  us  ; 
notwithstanding  all  these  we  developed  a 
power,  force,  and  aptitude,  suitable  not  only 
to  the  ordinary  concerns  of  life  but  to  the 
higher  duties  of  morality  and  citizenship. 
This  achievement  was  wrought  out  .in  the 
heaviest  forest  from  the  stump  up,  from  gath 
ering  of  the  harvest  to  the  better  under 
standing  and  proper  use  and  value  of  its 
proceeds. 

This  pioneering  was  under  white  leadership, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  King,  the  most  patriotic  gentle 
man  of  Irish  nativity  I  ever  met.  The  sur 
rounding  country  being  made  up  with  strug 
gling  Scotch,  Irish,  and  English  farmers,  fair 
and  patriotic  white  leadership  and  exemplars, 
by  reason  of  their  long  training  and  experience 
in  civilization,  is  best  and  must  stand  until  we 
have  made  leadership  possible  through  similar 
processes  of  development  of  a  successful  peace 
basis,  and  rearing  thereon  a  structure  of  char- 


THE  LABOR  QUESTION.  79 

acter  and  strength  of  character  sufficient  for 
those  and  other  responsible  duties  and  obliga 
tions.  Therefore,  making  ourselves,  through 

o  o 

an  honest  and  truthful  regard  for  our  employ 
er's  interest  as  well  as  our  own,  whatever  may 
be  the  kind  or  character  of  work  performed, 
making  ourselves,  thereby,  indispensable,  re 
spected,  protected,  and  sought.  In  this 
field  our  strength,  as  citizens,  may  be  com 
puted  in  the  great  equation  of  valuable  and 
desirable  citizenship.  In  this  field  a  success 
ful  and  beneficial  reapproachment  is  made 
easy  and  manifestly  in  order  at  any  time, 
which  will  cause  us  to  be  noted  in  history  and 
popular  tradition.  In  this  field  Negro- Ameri 
can  labor  may  yet  become  one  of  the  peaceful 
arbitrators  in  peaceful  and  successful  solution 
of  the  labor  system  in  this  country,  which 
must  and  will  redound  to  the  lasting  credit  of 
the  race  —  a  credit  that  will  bring  to  us  inter 
est  compounded,  which  will  add  not  alone  to 
our  wealth  in  a  material  way,  but  in  ever)- 
thing  that  goes  to  make  a  race  or  a  nation 
strong  and  powerful. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

LOGICAL  RESULT  OF  INVESTIGATION— COM 
MENTS  ON  PROMINENT  COLORED  OFFI 
CIALS  OF  APPROVED  CHARACTER,  BOTH 
DEMOCRATS  AND  REPUBLICANS,  OF  THE 
DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA,  AND  COMMENTS 
ON  RACE  LEADERSHIP. 

WE  have  learned  that  some  surprise  exists 
on  the  part  of  one  or  two  gentlemen 
of  the  adverse  attitudes  of  negro  dem 
ocrats,  and  other  citizens,  as  well  as  negroes 
throughout    the    country,     toward    a    certain 
appointment  made  by  the  President  in  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia,  designed,  doubtless,  to  rep 
resent   negro   democracy   in   particular  and   a 
race  of  eight  millions  in  general. 

In  all  racial  appointments  (receiving  so  few 
as  we  do  in  proportion  to  our  numerical 
strength),  we  very  naturally  and  properly  scru 
tinize  and  investigate  their  worth,  merit,  and 
weight,  not  merely  avoirdupois,  or  bulk,  but 

(80) 


RACE  LEADERSHIP.  Si 

intellectual  weight.  Our  investigations  reveal 
such  worthy  and  efficient  appointees  that  have 
served  the  District  of  Columbia  as  the  follow 
ing:  Hon.  John  F.  Cook,  for  many  years  Col 
lector  and  later  Assessor  of  the  District;  Hon. 
B.  K.  Bruce,  Recorder  of  Deeds;  Hon.  Fred 
Douglass,  who  held  the  last-named  office  for 
several  years,  and  was  also  United  States  Mar 
shal  for  the  District;  Colonel  Perry  Carson, 
the  very  efficient  District  Inspector ;  W.  Calvin 
Chase,  Esq.,  who  was  also  an  efficient  District 
Inspector;  —  all  of  whom  were  republicans, 
and  all  of  them  men  whose  character  was  above 
reproach  and  whose  standing  was  very  high, 
both  in  the  District  and  country.  Their  con 
duct  in  office  was  that  of  careful,  honorable, 
and  painstaking  officials,  meriting  high  com 
mendation  at  all  times. 

Of  the  two  democratic  appointments  in  the 
District  that  have  stood  scrutiny  and  investi 
gation  on  the  lines  above  laid  down,  one  is  the 
Hon.  J.  C.  Matthews  as  Recorder  of  Deeds,  and 
at  present  recorder  of  the  capital  city  of  the 
great  State  of  New  York,  an  office  of  great 
honor  and  responsibilit}^,  which  carries  with  it 


82      PHILOSOPHY  or  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

high  judicial  functions.  We  can  form  a  pretty 
fair  estimate  of  the  character  of  Judge  Mat 
thews  by  considering  that  he  has  been  elected 
to  this  high  office  by  a  constituency  composed 
almost  wholly  of  white  voters.  The  circum 
stances  and  conditions  under  which  he  has 
reached  his  present  elevated  position  render  it 
difficult  to  estimate  the  value  of  the  service  he 
has  rendered  and  is  rendering  his  race.  The 
significant  verdict  when  he  surrendered  the 
office  in  Washington  was  that  his  conduct  of  it 
had  never  been  surpassed,  if  ever  equaled,  by 
his  long  line  of  predecessors;  and  we  may 
safely  say  that  the  verdict  will  be  the  same 
when  he  surrenders  the  office  he  now  holds; 
and  it  can  be  relied  on  that  he  will  serve  out 
his  full  term,  and  well  done,  approved,  will  be 
for  him  no  extravagant  verdict.  Judge  Mat 
thews  has  reached  his  present  position  through 
his  strict  adherence  to  true  democratic  princi 
ples  and  through  his  belief  that  the  best  inter 
ests  of  his  race  lay  in  the  division  of  their 
suffrage,  and  through  their  integrity  and  high 
moral  principles,  which  must  win. 


RACE  LEADERSHIP.  83 

The  other  democratic  appointment  referred 
to  was  that  of  Hon.  James  M.  Trotter,  also 
Recorder  of  Deeds  for  the  District.  He  brought 
with  him  from  his  home  in  Massachusetts  an 
irreproachable  character,  which  he  maintained 
through  his  term,  and  no  suspicion  of  immor 
ality  clouded  his  official  career,  and  his  official 
conduct  was  above  reproach. 

Respecting  the  Hon.  Mr.  Cheatham,  a  repub 
lican  recently  appointed  Recorder  of  Deeds  for 
the  District,  his  advent  into  office  shows  him 
to  have  an  appreciable  conception  of  his  duties 
and  moral  obligations  to  the  community,  and 
prove  him  a  competent  and  trustworthy  man- 
one  who  will  reflect  credit  on  his  race ;  and  of 
him,  as  well  as  of  all  the  above-named  gentle 
men,  it  can  be  truthfully  said  that  any  lady,  be 
she  white  or  colored,  could  enter  his  office 
without  the  slightest  insult  being  offered  her 
either  directly  or  by  implication. 

Again  adverting  to  Judge  Matthews  as  a 
democrat,  it  is  very  suggestive  of  the  consider 
ation  shown  the  race  by  the  democratic  party. 
We  have  taken  no  little  pains  to  investigate 
the  amount  of  recognition  shown  the  race  by 


84      PHILOSOPHY, OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

both  of  the  great  political  parties  in  northern 
constituencies  and  fail  to  find  any  snch  recog 
nition  shown  the  race  by  the  republican  party 
as  that  shown  it  by  the  democratic  party  in  the 
election  of  Judge  Matthews  to  the  position  he 
now  holds.  Even  the  late  Fred  Douglass, 
during  his  long  residence  in  Rochester,  N.  Y., 
never  received  such  honor  and  recognition. 
This  affords  food  for  deep  thought  to  thinking 
men  and  women,  and  shows  plainly  that  their 
best  interests  lie  in  a  division  of  suffrage. 
Such  a  leader  as  Judge  Matthews  can  be  relied 
on  to  resist  the  assumptions  of  characterless 
scoundrels  and  made-to-order  leaders  whenever 
found  in  the  ranks  of  negro  democracy.  The 
same  can  be  said  of  Geo.  T.  Downing,  of  Rhode 
Island;  of  Lloyd  G.  Wheeler,  of  Chicago,  111.;  of 
Peter  H.  Clark  and  J.  Milton  Turner,  of  Mis 
souri;  of  C.  A.  Ridout,  of  the  State  of  Wash 
ington;  of  James  Ross,  of  Iowa;  of  Archie 
Grimke,  of  Massachusetts ;  and  numerous  other 
colored  democrats  of  character  and  intelligence. 
We  desire  race  leadership  possessing  the 
highest  conception  of  duty  and  lofty  apprecia 
tion  of  moral  character  and  approved  capability 


RACE  LEADERSHIP.  85 

whenever  possible,  but  where  such  cannot  be 
obtained  we  prefer  fair-minded  white  leadership 
representing  equality  under  the  law,  especially 
a  leadership  that  does  not  shrink  from  the 
espousal  of  truly  Jeffersoiiian  principles  and 
doctrines.  To  illustrate  our  position :  At  the 
meeting  of  the  National  League  at  Indian 
apolis,  Ind.,  we  favored  the  election  of  General 
Upshur  as  president  of  a  Negro  Democratic 
National  League  if  a  new  organization  was  to 
be  formed,  for  the  reason  that  his  successful 
formation  and  management  of  our  campaign 
league,  operating  in  the  close  Northern  and 
Eastern  States,  made  us  feel  in  honor  bound 
to  make  him  a  tender  of  its  presidency,  even  if 
he  would  not  accept  it.  For  the  signal  ability 
displayed  by  him  in  the  management  of  that 
campaign  (referring  of  course  to  the  campaign 
of  1892),  and  his  knowledge  of  the  men  upon 
whom  he  relied  for  the  work,  well  fitted  him 
to  say  who  should  lead  the  new  organization  if 
one  was  to  be  formed. 

General  Upshur  being  (as  we  all  knew)  in 
different  to  the  bitter  opposition  attacks  for  his 
services  in  this  direction  never  swerved  to  the 


86      PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

right  or  left  and  made  a  division  of  the  negro 
votes  in  these  close  States  a  positive  reality  as 
well  as  a  determined  factor. 

Let  us  say  right  here,  we  least  of  all  ca:c 
afford  to  sanction  or  encourage  the  pretensions 
of  self-constituted  leaders  in  whom  we  may 
discover  a  characterless  monstrosity.  We  have 
doubtless  suffered  overmuch  from  improper 
leaders,  and  we  should  have  no  place  for  them. 
Should  such  leaders  be  forced  on  us  against 
our  will  and  protest,  to  satisfy  personal  obliga 
tions  regardless  of  moral  requirements  and  a 
keen  appreciative  sense  of  their  maintenance, 
we  cannot  afford  to  lower  the  standard  of  citi 
zenship  to  which  we  aspire,  and  which  can  only 
be  reached  and  attained  along  the  line  of  true 
character. 


RACE  LEADERSHIP.  87 


INTEGRITY   OF   SUFFRAGE. 

It  is  not  now,  nor  has  it  ever  been,  our  pur 
pose  to  write  simply  as  a  critical  partisan,  but 
rather  with  a  sincere  desire  to  promote  and 
elevate  the  standard  of  negro  citizenship  in 
this  republic.  The  true  philosophy  of  suffrage 
lies  in  its  integrity.  "Out  for  the  stuff"  or 
"for  what  there  is  in  it"  are  remarks  fre 
quently  heard  by  both  white  and  colored 
voters,  and  most  reprehensible  and  defenceless 
remarks  they  are,  which  we,  especially  as  a 
race,  can  least  afford  to  make  or  act  out,  for 
the  reason  that  we  are  only  making  a  record 
especially  with  reference  to  our  new  relation  to 
the  body  politic.  Our  actions  must  deserve 
approval  before  our  claims  to  proper  recogni 
tion  will  be  fully  conceded.  Moreover,  such 
sentiments  or  expressions  of  this  character  are 
grievously  wrong  even  in  the  whites,  and  does 
violence  to  proper  citizenship  notwithstanding 
their  accepted  record  for  civilization.  Ours 
being  still  in  embryo,  so  to  speak,  such  re 
marks  would  be  still  more  harmful.  On  the 


88       PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

whole,  coming  from  any  race,  they  should  be 
rebuked  as  being  detrimental  and  destructive  to 
good  citizenship.  Ours  being  an  imitative 
race,  when  asked  why  we  do  thus  and  so,  our 
answer  invariably  is,  "the  whites  have  done 
it,"  "the  whites  do  the  same."  Precisely  so; 
but  we  submit  as  a  logical  proposition  that 
simply  because  raw  meat  is  sold  in  the  market 
is  no  reason  why  it  should  be  eaten  raw  at  the 
table ;  on  the  contrary,  it  would  be  better  when 
cooked  and  seasoned.  Hence,  when  we  imitate 
it  should  be  the  more  mature  and  sincere  of 
white  sunragants.  Aside  from  this,  let  us  es 
tablish  a  character  line  based  upon  an  elevated 
and  ideal  standard. 


CHAPTER   VII. 
CIVIL  SERVICE  TOUCHED  UPON. 


I 


E  favor  civil  service  to  the  extent  of  its 
giving  security  to  employes  during 
specific  terms,  according  to  grades, 
always  selecting  the  most  meritorious,  and 
enlarging  it  if  necessary. 

Some  four  or  five  years  ago,  in  speaking 
with  the  Hon.  Clifton  R.  Breckinridge  and 
Hon.  W.  J.  Bryan,  who  were  always  interested 
to  know  how  our  people  felt,  whether  the 
law  operated  favorably  or  unfavorably  to  us, 
we  gave  as  our  opinion  that  the  merit  system 
shouH  be  retained  ;  that  the  life  tenure  was 
un-American,  un-democratic,  and  pro-aristo 
cratic,  and  would  lead  to  class  distinctions ; 
a  proper  grading  from  a  nine-hundred-dol 
lar  clerkship  up; -a  fixed  tenure  according  to 
grade  would  always  keep  the  maximum  of 

the  force  and  vigor  to  the  minimum  of  old 

(89) 


90       PHILOSOPHY  OF  NKGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

age  ;  and  inefficiency  through  rotations.  We 
oppose  the  one-man  power  in  making  appoint 
ments,  rather  feeling  that  divided  responsi 
bility  should  obtain  between  the  political 
leaders  of  their  respective  sections  and  the 
chief  executive.  We  believe  firmly  in  party 
accountability  and  responsibility  being  essen 
tial  to  hearty  party  life  and  activity  and  the 
best  good  of  the  country ;  otherwise  a  sub 
version  and  reversion  of  party  zeal  checked. 
Patriotism  is  never  confined  exclusively  to 
any  certain  individual  or  class.  Whatever 
stimulates  our  commanding  general  also  stim 
ulates  the  staff  officers  and  line  men  as  well. 
Oftentimes  there  is  as  much  patriotic  heroism 
displayed  on  the  part  of  the  private  on  the 
field  of  battle  as  on  the  part  of  the  com 
manding  general  and  staff  officers.  Where 
the  one-man  power  is  paramount,  power  and 
responsibility  is  too  often  selfish  and  personal. 
Appointments  are  very  often  made  regardless 
of  public  requirements  and  patriotic  party 
service,  and  regardless  of  public  approval  — -> 
too  often  in  the  face  of  both.  We  deem  it 
unfair  to  reproach  an  honest,  fair,  rugged,  and 


CIVIL  SERVICE.  91 

sincere  party  man  as  a  spoilsman  on  account 
of  his  seeking  to  obtain  office  from  his  party, 
whether  it  be  the  highest  place  or  reaching 
down  to  the  lowest  place  within  its  gift  of 
bestowal. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

A  WORD  OF  COUNSEL  TO  THE  NEGRO 
VOTERS  OF  MARYLAND  AND  KEN 
TUCKY—SEEKING  STRENGTH  FROM 
THOSE  BEST  ABLE  TO  RENDER  IT. 


T^ifTE  are  sure  winners  this  time  in  both 
y  y       states,"  was  the  remark   of  an  en 
thusiastic    republican,    in   speaking 
of  the  approaching  elections  in  Maryland  and 
Kentucky.      From  his  reasoning  a  solid  negro 
vote  is  to  be  cast  for  the  republican  ticket  re 
gardless  of  issues  or  men. 

Remarkable  as  this  statement  may  seem, 
that  we  as  a  race,  after  thirty  and  more  years 
of  freedom,  are  still  unable  to  assume  the 
functions  of  thinking  American  citizens,  and 
that  our  right  to  exercise  suffrage  has  seem 
ingly  become  perpetual  and  hereditary,  con 
tingent,  however,  upon  voting  the  republican 
ticket. 

(92) 


A  WORD  OF  COUNSEL.  93 

The  decision  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court  in  remanding  us  to  the  several  states 
for  the  enjoyment  and  security  of  our  civil 
rights  should  not  be  lost  sight  of ;  hence  in 
the  preservation  of  freedom  and  citizens'  rights 
every  possible  advantage  should  be  taken  to 
make  them  most  effective,  ascertaining  who 
constitute  the  dominant  citizens  —  in  short, 
"where  are  we  at?"  And  if  they  are  not  to 
be  found  on  both  sides,  or  even  a  preponder 
ance  on  the  one  side  or  the  other,  then  our 
action  should  be  wisely  taken ;  leaving  no 
pretext  of  a  menacing  character  to  be  attrib 
uted  to  us,  scrupulously  evading  which,  must 
lead  to  a  proper  consideration  of  men  on  both 
sides.  In  this  way  we  gain  for  ourselves 
and  families  standing  and  perpetual  freedom 
through  our  independent  action  and  diver 
sified  suffrage.  In  the  past  the  fetishness  of 
the  Irish  voter  bred  much  antipathy  toward 
him  for  a  time,  from  one  of  the  great  political 
parties,  which,  through  a  diversity  of  suffrage, 
has  happily  now  disappeared.  In  this  respect, 
seeking  to  maintain  a  common  basis  for  safety, 
let  us  make  the  Irish  our  exemplars,  which  will 


94       PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

give  us  strength  and  security  where  and  when 
most  needed. 

In  our  position  and  relation  to  the  body 
politic  in  the  two  states,  constituting,  as  we  do, 
a  large  proportion  of  the  labor  element,  we 
cannot  easily  escape  our  proper  responsibility 
and  welfare ;  considering  men  and  measures 
on  both  sides,  and  to  do  it  in  the  most  intelli 
gent  and  philosophic  manner  within  our  com 
prehension.  Our  home  and  best  interest  are 
here  brought  prominently  to  the  front.  The 
load  we  carry,  and  the  responsibilities  we  as 
sume,  cannot  be  met  without  assistance.  We 
must  cultivate  a  friendly  feeling,  and  thus  grow 
in  favor  with  the  people  most  able  to  aid  us  in 
the  promotion  of  our  common  rights  and  wel 
fare.  In  doing  this,  it  may  become  necessary 
to  make  individual  sacrifices.  Any  leader  un 
willing  to  do  this  is  seeking  to  sow  the  seed  of 
discord  and  mischief  for  individual  gain.  We 
should  not  ask  from  such  approved  men  as 
Senator  Gorman  and  General  Hardin,  the  re 
spective  leaders  in  their  respective  states,  ante- 
election  and  catchy  letters,  which  are  too  often 
meaningless  and  deceptive,  but  from  their  char- 


SOCIAL    EQUALITY.  97 

there  may  be  others  who  entertain  the  same 
erroneous  notions,  it  would  not,  perhaps,  be 
out  of  place  in  this  connection,  to  state  what 
we  know  to  be  the  true  attitude  of  our  people 
in  this  regard. 

By  what  process  of  logical  and  honest 
reasoning  could  we  place  ourselves  in  such 
an  obnoxious  and  absurd  position  without 
giving  the  lie  to  the  contention  of  our 
great  negro  leaders,  who  have  claimed  or 
affected  to  claim  for  us  the  highest  powers 
and  capabilities  for  development  p  If  they 
are  honest  their  actions  should  show  it ;  if 
dishonest,  they  should  publicly  disavow  any 
such  contention.  From  our  own  experience 
and  observation  we  assert  that  there  is  no 
desire  on  the  part  of  the  negroes  in  this 
country  to  assume  any  such  false  attitude  ; 
being  as  we  are  susceptible  of  improvement, 
and  improving  as  we  are,  why  should  we 
wish  for  anything  so  absurd  and  unrea 
sonable  ? 

The  statement  of  Governor  O'Ferrell  of 
Virginia,  that  in  the  transaction  of  public 
business  he  knew  no  difference  between  citi- 


98       PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

zens,  should  stand.  There  is  no  ground, 
really,  for  the  criticism  of  the  governor's  ac 
tion  in  the  Teohms'  incident  in  the  executive 
mansion  on  social  grounds.  At  the  mansion 
the  governor  is  king  —  it  is  his  citadel  —  he 
has  a  right  to  draw  the  line  there  as  in  his 
private  residence  :  indeed,  it  is  his  private 
residence,  just  as  the  White  House  is  the 
president's  private  residence. 

We  remember  that  President  Grant  in  en 
tertaining  the  Santa  Dominion  Commission 
did  not  see  fit  to  include  the  late  Fred'k 
Douglass,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Com 
mission  as  its  Secretary. 

We  were  surprised  that  any  one  possess 
ing  ordinary  intelligence  should  have  allowed 
themselves  to  be  placed  in  such  a  compromis 
ing  position  as  Teohms  did. 

In  the  matter  of  public  rights  —  public  ac 
commodations  is  something  entirely  different, 
dependent  on  our  civility,  requirements,  and 
ability  to  pay  for  them.  There  are  public 
rights  and  really  the  common  rights  of  the 
citizen.  While  en  route  to  Chicago,  the  Hon. 
Clifton  R.  Breckinridge,  accompanied  by  two 


SOCIAL  EQUALITY.  99 

ladies  with  their  colored  maids,  intelligent 
and  neat  in  appearance,  sitting  across  the 
aisle  in  the  dining  car,  was  noticed  by  him 
as  not  having  been  served  by  the  colored 
waiters  ;  he  at  once  beckoned  them  to  serve 
them  their  breakfast  ;  they  were  hungry  as 
well  as  were  the  other  travelers.  There  was 
no  social  equality  in  this  ;  it  was  simply 
a  matter  of  common  public  rights  of  the 
traveler. 

While  a  student  in  Canada,  Lord  Spencer, 
the  first  Lord  of  Admiralty  in  Mr.  Gladstone's 
and  Lord  Rosebcrry's  Cabinet,  known  then  as 
Lord  Althrop,  dined  at  the  same  table,  on  a 
public  occasion,  with  the  writer  and  the  other 
students.  Neither  did  Lord  Spencer  nor  any 
body  else  regard  the  incident  as  one  of  social 
equality.  It  was  simply  dinner  time,  and  the 
boys  and  girls  were  placed  at  the  same  table. 
It  did  not  affect  the  sensibilities  of  his  Lord 
ship  in  the  least,  as  he  made  a  happy  address 
to  us  on  the  occasion,  and  has  since  made  in 
quiries  concerning  us  and  our  progress  since 
we  left  the  institution.  Minister  Breckenridge 
and  Lord  Spencer  are  broad-minded  men,  and 


ioo    PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

can  comprehend  the  difference  between  a 
social  and  public  right.  To  the  mind  of 
the  writer  this  distinction  seems  so  clear 
that  any  argument  upon  the  subject  is  ab 
surd  and  unnecessary. 


CHAPTER    X. 

A  DISCUSSION  OF  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 
OF  THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA- 
SUGGESTIONS  AS  TO  THEIR  IMPROVE 
MENT—A  LACK  OF  DISCRIMINATION 
OF  THE  NEGRO  NOT  YET  FULLY  DE 
VELOPED. 

JT[HE  casual  observer,  noting  our  excellent 
'  ^  school  system  in  the  District  of  Colum 
bia,  would  be  led  to  believe  that  no  sug 
gestion  relative  to  its  improvement  would  be 
in  order,  touching  its  management.  Through 
the  courtesy  of  the  very  efficient  supervising 
principal,  Dr.  J.  H.  N.  Waring,  in  whose  dis 
trict  we  reside,  we  have  been  enabled  to  exam 
ine  the  work  done,  from  the  first  to  the  eighth 
grades,  coming  under  the  management  of  three 
most  competent  lady  principals,  Miss  M.  P. 
Shadd,  Mrs.  M.  E.  Tucker,  and  Miss  Laura 
Dyson.  Without  any  criticism,  but  rather  in 
the  line  of  suggestion  or  observation,  with  the 

(101) 


102     PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

hope  of  adding  additional  strength  between 
these  grades,  and  to  these  principals.  While 
they  are  thoroughly  competent,  owing  to 
conditions  Which  they  cannot  control,  it  is 
not  within  their  power  to  give  out  all  they 
could  under  improved  conditions  which  should 
be  had,  bearing  the  responsibilities,  as  they  do, 
of  the  seven  lower  grades  below  them,  make 
the  duties  for  them  too  great.  Their  assist 
ants  should  be  selected  from  the  best  in  the 
corps.  Great  care  and  circumspection  should 
be  had  in  the  adjustment  and  re-adjustment  of 
the  lower  grades,  selecting  teachers  in  point 
of  fitness  and  adaptability,  for  each  respective 
grade  ;  a  fifth-grade  teacher  should  not  teach 
a  first-grade  school,  and  vice  versa. 

Since  the  great  majority  of  the  children 
never  go  beyond  the  eighth  grade,  it  becomes 
necessary  that  they  should  receive  all  that  it 
is  possible  for  them  to  obtain.  This  can  only 
be  done  by  affording  them  every  facility,  even 
to  increasing  the  pay  of  these  principals,  con 
sistent  with  their  responsibilities.  With  this 
view  of  the  case  we  should  at  once  lop  off 
some  of  the  high  school  top  paraphernalia  as 


PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  103 

being  unnecessary  and  superfluous,  and  center 
our  energies  where  the  greatest  practical  good 
can  go  to  the  greatest  number,  thereby  better 
meeting  the  necessities  of  the  hour. 

Scientific  accomplishment  and  development 
will  take  care  of  themselves  as  we  reach 
these  points  in  the  line  of  special  selections. 
Instead  of  spending  so  much  time  and  money 
in  the  superfluous  appendages  in  the  high 
school,  let  us  devote  that  time  and  money 
to  the  industrial  department,  thus  bringing 
it  in  closer  touch  with  those  grades  which 
are  really  our  graduating  point.  We  know 
of  the  efficiency  of  some  of  the  high  school 
teachers  who  could,  with  profit,  be  utilized 
practically  there. 

It  is  no  logical  argument  that  the  whites 
have  this  or  that  in  their  high  school,  and 
therefore  we  must ;  the  whites  have  greater 
needs,  greater  opportunities,  better  openings 
in  the  future.  Ours  are  less  ;  they  must  be 
made  and  met  as  we  go  along,  great  or 
small,  just  in  the  proportion  to  our  capacity 
and  developing  power,  only  in  such  proper- 


104     PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

tion  will  our  high  school  requirements  be 
manifest. 

We  have  often  heard  our  negro  leaders 
and  some  of  our  school  officials  in  the  past 
declare  that  our  schools  are  as  good  as  the 
whites'  schools,  that  as  such  they  could  not 
be  made  any  better  than  they  are.  This 
statement  will  not  bear  the  test  of  truth 
and  logic.  Schools  are  just  what  the  people 
are  from  which  they  draw  ;  in  the  very  nature 
of  things  can  be  no  better.  The  whites  have 

o 

behind  them  centuries  of  civilization,  culture 
in  their  homes,  good  home  training  to  begin 
with,  while  we  have  but  little  of  these  and 
in  a  large  number  of  homes  none  at  all  ; 
hence  for  a  long  time  to  come  our  schools, 
from  the  very  conditions,  must  be  far  in 
the  rear. 

In  proof  of  what  we  say,  the  record  of 
the  police  court  in  the  District  shows  to 
our  discredit.  While  we  represent  less  than 
one-third  of  the  population  we  constitute 
forty-three  per  centum  of  the  crimes  com 
mitted,  which  is  a  conclusive  argument  that 
our  schools  can  not  be  equally  as  good  a? 


PUBLIC  SCHOOLS.  105 

the    white    schools  ;    if    as    good,    then    the 
effects  produced  are  entirely  different. 

To  be  convinced  of  the  class  from  which 
our  schools  must  largely  draw  for  their 
patronage,  let  a  band  of  music  strike  up 
and  in  swarms  they  appear  as  if  by  magic  ; 
from  whence  they  issue  it  is  difficult  to  tell, 
lining  the  avenue,  three  and  four  deep,  from 
the  Peace  Monument  to  the  President's  man 
sion,  presenting  a  spectacle  humiliating  and 
distrusting. 

o  o  , 

While  we  are  opposed  to  sumptuary  meas 
ures  yet  it  seems  to  us  that,  through  our  lead 
ers  and  ministers,  there  should  be  some  effort 
on  their  part  looking  to  the  regulation  and 
manner  of  these  parades,  our  appearances  as 
well  as  our  conduct  afterwards ;  and  right 
here  let  us  say,  that  we  can  boast  of  as 
intelligent  a  ministry  as  in  any  State  in 
the  Union. 

We  are  inclined  to  make  a  too  formidable 
display  of  toggery  —  dress  on  a  scale  quite  in 
compatible  with  our  incomes.  A  reformation 
en  these  lines  is  much  needed.  We  spend 


io6    PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

too  much  in  dress ;  we  spend  too  much  in 
parades  and  picnics ;  too  much  in  building 
churches.  Let  us  have  fewer  churches  and 
more  homes,  more  frugality.  It  is  not  what 
we  earn  but  what  we  save  that  lends  weight. 
Being  forced  to  live  in  alleys  is  often  our  own 
fault,  the  result  of  our  extravagances. 

We  seem  to  lack  the  power  or  sense  of  a 
proper  discrimination,  which  will  grow  and 
develop  as  we  advance  in  civilization  —  en 
abling  us  to  draw  the  line  between  morality 
and  immorality  —  between  virtue  and  vice  ; 
that  approved  character  should  first  enter  our 
basic  consideration  for  preferment.  This  ap 
plies  with  double  force  and  meaning  to  our 
schools  and  churches  and  in  all  our  higher 
relations  of  life.  We  have  not  yet  quite 
learned  the  sanctity  of  the  home  and  the  ob 
ligations  and  limitation  which  the  marriage 
relations  carry  and  impose. 

For  the  lack  of  discrimination,  a  friend  of 
mine  was  caused  to  remark  to  me  :  "  Do  you 
see  that  fellow  there  with  that  woman  across 
the  street  ?  I  once  took  them  both  off  from 
whipping  her  husband.  She  is  now  this  fel- 


PUBLIC  SCHOOLS.  107 

low's  wife.  This  husband  they  were  whipping 
was  finally  driven  from  home  and  died  in  a 
stable.  This  couple,  doubtless,  now  consider 
themselves  leading  members  of  one  of  our  ad 
vanced  churches."  A  single  inquiry  as  to 
how  this  could  be,  caused  him  to  remark  : 
"  Oh,  they  have  some  belongings  and  can 
occasionally  give  a  good  feed." 

Until  we  shall  have  learned  to  make  dis 
crimination  in  these  things,  we  have  much  to 

o     ' 

learn  and  much  to  improve  upon,  in  order 
that  our  weapons  of  defense  may  be  wisely 
and  well  chosen. 

That  we  may  show  the  philosophy  of  negro 
suffrage  and  the  advantages  growing  out  of 
the  proper  use  of  it,  we  must  convince  the 
American  people  that  we  are  susceptible  of 
improvement  in  all  those  qualities  which  go  to 
make  up  character  and  strength  of  character. 

The  recent  praiseworthy  effort  of  Prof.  Geo. 
W.  Cook  of  Howard  University  in  reclaiming 
the  lads  in  his  section  of  the  city  from  vice 
will  be  watched  with  much  interest.  He 
should  be  encouraged  and  aided. 

The  successful  management  of  the  steam- 


io8     PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

boat  enterprise  by  a  company  composed  of 
negroes,  headed  by  Mr.  Webster,  Mr.  Keys, 
and  others,  giving  as  it  does  employment  to 
a  large  number  of  colored  men,  demonstrates 
the  real  power  and  force  of  interested  race 
advancement. 

The  successful  management  of  the  Freed- 
men's  Hospital  under  the  management  of  that 
eminent  surgeon,  Dr.  Daniel  H.  Williams, 
ably  assisted  by  the  executive  officer  and  able 
physician,  Dr.  John  R.  Francis,  demonstrates 
our  capabilities  under  proper  conditions  and 
surroundings  of  which  they  have  been  able  to 
surround  themselves. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  AFRO -AMERICAN   FREE  SILVER  CLUB 
CHANGED  FROM  PALMER  TO  BRYAN  CLUB 
-DR.   RILEY  DEFENDS  HIS  POSITION. 

TT7HE  "John  M.  Palmer  Colored  Democratic 
•  ^  Club,"  the  oldest  colored  democratic  club 
in  the  United  States  (organized  origi 
nally  in  1875),  met  September  10,  1896,  and 
changed  its  name  by  unanimous  vote  to  "The 
William  J.  Bryan  Club."  The  president  of 
the  club,  Dr.  Jerome  R.  Riley,  an  old  citizen 
and  tax  payer  of  Washington,  the  author  of  a 
work  on  the  race  problem,  entitled  "The  Phi 
losophy  of  Negro  Suffrage,"  which  is  conceded 
to  be  the  greatest  work  of  its  kind  ever  'pub 
lished,  addressed  the  club  as  follows : 

GENTLEMEN, —  I  hold  that  this  change  of 
name  to  the  "William  J.  Bryan  Democratic 
Club"  is  at  once  timely  and  suggestive,  and 
most  appropriate  in  view  of  the  fact  that  Gen 
eral  Palmer  is  now  opposing  the  regular  nomi- 

109) 


no    PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

nees  of  the  National  Democratic  party  in  con 
vention  assembled. 

For  the  General's  personality  I  have  the 
highest  regard. 

A  few  months  ago  the  Chief  Executive  of 
this  nation  issued  his  edict  serving  due  notice 
upon  Great  Britain  and  the  world  that  the 
Monroe  doctrine  should  be  maintained  on  this 
continent,  notwithstanding  such  maintenance 
might  involve  many  millions  of  money  and 
great  sacrifice  in  flesh  and  blood  of  the  com 
mon  people.  That  edict  was  applauded  and 
sustained  with  patriotic  unanimity,  regardless 
of  race  or  condition ;  and  this,  too,  without 
even  a  hint  or  suggestion  of  by  your  permis 
sion  "John  Bull,"  as  being  in  any  way  requi 
site  or  essential.  Indeed,  any  such  hint  or 
suggestion,  I  daresay,  would  have  been  regarded 
as  lunacy.  By  common  consent  the  chief  issue 
in  this  campaign  is  the  money  question — the 
free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver,  as  of  gold, 
at  legal  ratio.  I  make  no  pretense  of  being 
specially  versed  in  economic  science,  or  even 
the  principles  of  civil  government;  but  if  we 
can  maintain  the  Monroe  doctrine,  although 


BRYAN  FREE  SILVER  CLUB.          in 

involving  the  expenditure  of  millions  of  treas 
ure  and  great  sacrifice  in  flesh  and  blood,  surely 
the  United  States  is  able  to  regulate  its  own 
monetary  system  in  the  interest  and  for  the 
promotion  of  the  well-being  of  the  toiling 
masses  of  our  own  people,  through  peaceful 
methods  and  measures,  without  the  permission 
of  Great  Britain  or  any  foreign  power.  Must 
the  American  people  be  forced  to  say  of  con 
sistency,  thy  name  is  Humbug?  This  propo 
sition  from  my  point  of  view  is  both  logical 
and  fair  and  of  value.  Therefore,  without 
begging,  borrowing,  or  stealing,  for  any  pur 
pose  of  discussion,  beyond  personal  investiga 
tion  which  forces  conviction  and  conclusion, 
the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver  would 
result  in  swelling  the  volume  per  capita  circu 
lation  of  money,  either  directly  or  indirectly. 
If  this  conclusion  is  founded  in  truth  and  good 
reasoning,  it  must  certainly  result  in  affording 
a  better  opportunity  for  the  toiling  masses  to 
obtain  a  living  share. 

If  we  can,  then  we  will  take  the  chances  cf 
its  cheapness,  although,  as  is  often  asserted, 
it  never  vanishes  nor  hides,  which  is  too  often 


ii2    PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

the  case  with  confidence  which  vanishes,  and 
gold  which  hides.  This  is  not  a  party  or  a 
race  question,  but  one  involving  the  life  and 
benefits  of  the  masses  against  over-fed  and 
domineering  money  changers. 

Before  the  issnes  of  this  campaign  had  been 
joined,  or  the  discussion  had  been  properly 
brought  to  the  attention  of  the  people  who  were 
seeking  more  light  on  the  subject,  Mr.  John  R. 
Lynch,  as  reported,  hurried  off  to  Canton  to 
inform  Major  McKinley  that  the  colored  voters 
of  this  country  were  all  for  him,  and  to  a  man 
would  vote  for  him.  Later  Congressman  Mur- 
?a.y,  of  South  Carolina,  assured  the  National 
Republican  Committee,  as  reported  in  the 
public  press,  that  the  colored  voters  of  his  State 
were  all  for  the  gold  standard.  Gold  bugs 
were  they  —  all  of  them  —  whether  they  practi 
cally  knew  the  color  of  the  money  or  not.  Such 
statements  might  be  amusing,  but  for  their 
supreme  ridiculousness,  reflecting  alike  upon 
our  past  progress  and  future  possibilities. 
When  as  a  farmer's  boy,  herding  sheep  many 
years  ago,  I  depended  in  corralling  them  upon 
the  "old  bell  wether";  if  he  leaped  the  bar 


BRYAN  FREE  SILVER  CLUB.          113 

I  felt  perfectly  safe  in  corralling  the  entire 
herd.  Their  action  was  due  to  instinct  alone. 
Do  these  gentlemen,  in  these  assertions,  as 
sume  the  attitude  of  "bell  wether,"  and  thus 
place  the  whole  race  in  the  attitude  of  a  herd 
of  so  many  sheep,  moving  by  instinct,  void  of 
all  reasoning  faculties,  without  independence 
and  courage,  which  ought  to  be  the  heritage  of 
all  human  beings?  I  do  not  believe  that  the 
race  as  a  part  of  the  great  body  politic  is  satis 
fied  to  occupy  such  a  humiliating  attitude  in 
this  country.  Indeed,  I  can  assure  you  of  the 
contrary,  knowing  as  I  do  personally  of  colored 
democrats,  colored  republicans,  colored  popu 
lists,  even  middle  of  the  roadsters  —  free  silver 
men  all  of  them  —  thus  refuting  any  such 
ignorant  and  reflecting  assumption. 

In  all  my  reading  of  current  and  contem 
poraneous  literature  touching  the  money  ques 
tion,  the  Indianapolis  convention  people  and 
Congressman  Murray,  of  South  Carolina,  in 
their  representative  capacity,  are  the  first  and 
only  ones  to  declare  unequivocally  for  the 
single  gold  standard.  Even  the  republican 
platform  declares  for  both  gold  and  silver  just 


ii4    PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

as  soon  as  England  and  other  nations  will  per 
mit  us  to  have  it.  Mr.  Bryan  says  in  the 
interest  of  the  toiling  masses  we  should  have 
it  now,  that  silver  should  never  have  been 
struck  down  at  the  instance  of  the  money 
changers  of  this  country  and  Europe.  More 
over,  the  history  of  government  proves  that 
with  all  advancement  in  civilization  through 
political  evolution  new  conditions  have  arisen, 
giving  rise  to  new  parties,  a  readjustment  of 
old  ones  suitable  to  the  new  order  of  things. 
Indeed,  we  find  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
perpetuity  of  political  parties  among  white 
people. 

Hence  our  presence  here  to-night  in  support 
of  that  veritable  and  intrepid  leader  of  his 
party  and  the  people,  William  J.  Bryan — a 
gentleman,  a  scholar,  a  lawyer,  an  orator  and  a 
statesman,  whose  breadth  of  statesmanship 
embraces  the  area  of  our  common  country  and 
all  the  races. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

HON.  JOHN  R.  MCLEAN  COMMENDED  TO  THE 
COLORED  VOTERS  FOR  THEIR  SUPPORT 
AS  AGAINST  HON.  M.  A.  HANNA— A  FEW 
OF  HIS  MANY  CLAIMS  ON  THEIR  SUPPORT 
SET  FORTH— POINTS  IN  THE  DEMOCRATIC 
AND  REPUBLICAN  PLATFORMS  CON 
TRASTED—REFERENCE  MADE  TO  THE 
LATE  ELECTIONS  IN  MARYLAND  AND 
KENTUCKY,  AND  HONS.  BLAIR  LEE  AND 
CABEL  BRECKINRIDGE  MENTIONED. 

f^T  AM  a  true  believer  in  the  Jeffersonian 
doctrine  of  equality  under  the  law,"  was 
the  remark  made  in  our  hearing  by  the 
Hon.  John  R.  McLean,  of  Ohio,  the  gentleman 
who  is  the  subject  of  this  chapter  of  commen 
dation  to  the  colored  voters  of  that  State,  in 
his  office  in  Cincinnati  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 
century  ago.  We  have  been  at  some  pains  to 
ascertain  how  far  his  subsequent  actions  have 
tallied  with  the  above  remark  in  his  dealings 

(115) 


n6    PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

and  relations  with  our  race.  Several  colored 
citizens  of  that  State,  of  good  character  and 
well  acquainted  with  Mr.  McLean,  have  assured 
the  writer  that  his  actions  have  not  only 
tallied,  but  have  gone,  if  possible,  several  bow 
shots  beyond  in  his  assurances  of  his  truly 
democratic  feeling  toward  us.  Such  would 
seem  to  be  his  inherited  and  traditional  senti 
ments. 

By  common  consent  he  stands  to-day  before 
the  people  of  Ohio  as  the  recognized  opponent 
of  the  Hon.  M.  A.  Hanna  as  a  candidate  for 
United  States  Senator.  It  is  our  duty  as 
thinking  men  and  intelligent  citizens  to  in 
quire  in  what  direction  our  interests  lie,  and 
our  voting  strength  should  be  thrown  in  this 
contest.  It  is  not  sufficient  to  say  simply  how 
we  have  always  voted,  but  how  should  \ve  vote 
at  the  present  time.  While  changes  in  our 
economic  relations  are  taking  place  and  being 
wrought  out  every  day,  we  \vith  infantile  sim 
plicity  have  followed  our  republican  leaders 
without  why  or  wherefore,  too  timid  to  investi 
gate  and  revolutionize  if  necessary  and  change 
tenets  and  creeds  in  order  to  bring  us  in  har- 


HON.  JOHN   R,  McLEAN.  117 

mony  with  present  economic  conditions  and 
requirements. 

Wordsworth  has  written,  "The  child  is 
father  of  the  man."  This  is  a  truism.  Why 
may  not  we,  like  St.  Panl,  put  away  some  of 
the  belongings  of  our  childhood,  and  infantile 
voting  impressions,  if  we  are  ever  to  reach 
the  plane  of  independent  voters  consistent 
with  the  duties,  interests,  and  requirements  of 
to-day. 

A  study  of  the  Ohio  democratic  platform, 
which  has  Mr.  McLean's  unqualified  endorse 
ment  and  approval,  is  in  marked  contrast  to  the 
republican  platform  of  the  same  State,  on  which 
Mr.  Hanna  stands,  especially  in  respect  to 
labor  and  its  requirements.  Our  position  must 
ultimately  be  taken  with  labor  and  the  produc 
ing  classes.  Whatever  interests  white  laborers 
and  producers,  equally  interests  us.  We  are 
in  no  sense  interested  in  capitalistic  organiza 
tions,  as  under  their  system  trusts  and  com 
bines  have  been  formed  controlling  all  that  we 
eat,  drink,  and  wear;  regulating  the  prices  of 
all  necessaries  of  life.  We  do  not  belone 


n8    PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

there,  as  experience,  through  back  and  belly 
requirements,  has  shown. 

The  most  striking  plank  in  the  platform, 
one  which  is  in  marked  contrast  to  that  of  the 
republican  party  and  in  strict  accord  with  the 
demands  of  organized  labor,  relates  to  our 
money  basis  in  this  country,  which,  as  set 
forth,  should  be  gold  and  silver — bimetallism. 
For  this  constitutional  basis  of  money  Mr.  Mc 
Lean  has  labored  and  stands,  and  as  laborers 
and  producers  our  true  interests  lie  in  rallying 
to  his  standard.  Indeed,  we  have  already 
heard  expressions  from  a  number  of  the  lead 
ing  colored  citizens  of  the  State  of  their  pur 
pose  to  support  the  democratic  ticket  and  Mr. 
McLean  as  a  friend  of  labor  as  against  Mr. 
Hanna  and  the  republican  platform  of  "gold 
and  confidence,"  "gold  and  courage,"  "gold 
and  prosperity  on  the  way,"  "gold  and  feel  it 
in  the  air," — a  platform  more  remarkable  for 
its  euphony  than  for  its  staying  qualities,  for 
the  reason  that  the  gold  gets  out  of  sight, 
and  the  confidence  and  the  courage  too  often 
vanish. 


HON.  JOHN  R,  McLEAN.  119 

Gold  and  silver,  says  Mr.  McLean,  must  be 
the  basis  of  our  money  standard,  as  best  for 
the  American  people  and  in  their  interest,  and 
on  which  our  prosperity  for  all  time  depends. 
We  fail  to  see  the  consistency  of  the  gold  demo 
crats  in  electing  Mr.  McKinley,  a  bimetallist 
and  high  protection  republican,  some  of  them 
still  "  pointing  with  pride  "  to  their  work.  It 
is  the  writer's  special  pleasure  to  note  at  this 
moment,  when  so  many  of  the  colored  voters 
of  Ohio  seem  to  be  aspiring  to  the  realm  of 
independent  political  thought  and  action,  in 
the  pending  contest,  that  the  true  Jeffersonian 
principles  of  Hon.  A.  H.  Garland  and  Hon. 
Clifton  R.  Breckenridge  in  Arkansas,  nearly  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ago,  commended  them 
selves  to  colored  voters,  and  met  their  approval 
and  commanded  their  support,  wliich  we  believe 
to  be  especially  true  and  marked  in  Ohio  to 
day  under  the  leadership  of  that  very  able 
representative,  John  R.  McLean,  of  Cincinnati. 
Aside  from  that,  his  great  strength  lies  in  his 
fair  dealing  with  and  treatment  of  labor  in 
connection  with  his  great  printing  establish 
ment  at  his  home  city,  or  wherever  his  interests 


I2O    PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

come  in  contact  with  labor  and  the  producing 
classes.  No  false  promises  were  made,  but  a 
strict  observance  of  every  obligation  main 
tained.  Therein  lies  his  great  strength  with 
labor  interests  and  the  common  people  of  Ohio, 
who  are  to-day  rallying  to  his  support  and 
that  of  the  democratic  ticket. 

This  labor  record  of  Mr.  McLean  seems  to 
be  in  marked  contrast  with  the  apparent  facts 
reported  respecting  the  record  of  Mr.  Hanna 
in  his  dealings  with  labor  and  labor  organiza 
tions.  If  these  reports  are  true  he  has  failed 
to  concede  to  labor  the  fruits  of  honest  toil,  but 
rather  withheld  and  speculated  on  it.  Hence, 
doubtless,  arises  the  strong  opposition  of  organ 
ized  labor  to  him  to-day.  However,  we  hear 
some  criticism  of  Mr.  McLean  by  a  certain 
"gold"  democrat  in  Ohio  on  account  of  his 
reputed  wealth.  Strange  criticism,  indeed,  to 
emanate  from  such  a  source,  their  God  being 
gold.  Such  a  criticism,  if  true,  signalizes  him 
as  one  wealthy  man  whose  ears  are  not  deaf  to 
the  wants  and  necessities  of  common  humanity 
and  labor's  requirements,  as  the  platform  on 
which  he  stands  clearly  sets  forth. 


HON.  JOHN  R.  MCLEAN.  121 

As  colored  voters  of  Ohio,  this  opportunity 
of  supporting  the  nominees  of  the  democratic 
party  in  the  State,  standing  as  they  do  on  a 
platform  broad-gauged  and  embracing  the 
absolute  equality  of  rights,  would  seem  oppor 
tune,  for  the  reason  that  it  brings  us  in  touch 
with  the  defenders  of  the  interests  of  the  pro 
ducing  classes,  which  are  our  interests.  Let 
it  be  recalled  that  there  was  strong  conflict  of 
opinion  as  to  the  propriety  and  wisdom  of 
granting  our  elective  franchise  on  the  ground 
of  our  dense  ignorance,  lest  it  should  be  used 
in  an  entirely  partisan  manner,  under  all  con 
ditions  and  circumstances,  thus  possibly  becom 
ing  a  menace  to  the  public  good.  In  many 
instances  this  seems  to  have  been  done,  as  we 
ourselves  have  heard  the  remark  from  promi 
nent  white  republicans  in  forecasting  results 
before  platform  was  really  presented  or  an 
issue  discussed,  "so  many  negro  votes,  so  many 
republican  votes,"  which  we  are  sorry  to  say 
has  too  often  been  true,  and  has,  we  believe, 
brought  reproach  to  negro  suffrage  here  and 
elsewhere. 


122    PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

The  advice  of  our  late  friend  and  champion, 
Charles  Sumner,  was  to  divide  our  suffrage, 
and  thus  enhance  our  standing  and  strength 
in  the  community — advice  which  we  should 
heed.  Moreover,  the  democratic  platform, 
with  Mr.  McLean's  approval,  has  also  de 
nounced,  in  no  uncertain  terms,  the  failure  of  the 
present  State  government  to  protect  prisoners 
criminally  charged,  especially  so  in  the  case  of 
the  recent  lynching  at  Urbana,  where  the  pris 
oner  was  easy  of  access  to  railroad  and  tele 
graphic  communication,  no  valid  excuse  can 
be  offered  for  its  occurrence. 


IN  MARYLAND  AND  KENTUCKY 
our  votes  have  been  thrown  with  remarkable 
solidity  for  the  republican  ticket,  making  gov 
ernors,  senators,  members  of  Congress,  a 
cabinet  officer,  and  other  good  fat  appointments 
foreign  and  domestic.  Our  account  of  salvage 
to  date  discloses  five  common  laborers  and  six 
messengers  from  those  two  States.  Of  course 
cheap  men  are  usually  taken  at  their  own  price. 
Our  position  in  those"  two  States  is  that  we  are 


MARYLAND  AND  KENTUCKY.    123 

largely  dependent  on  our  white  fellow  citizens 
for  the  advantages  of  obtaining  a  livelihood, 
for  our  school  and  church  interests,  and  all  the 
advantages  along  the  line  of  our  improvement. 

The  majority  of  white  voters  in  those  two 
States  being  largely  democratic,  it  would  be 
well  to  inquire  whether  or  not  we  advance  our 
material  and  community  standing  by  thus 
throwing  a  solid  and  massive  vote  for  the 
republican  ticket.  Of  course,  if  we  advance 
our  material  relation  and  standing  with  the 
white  democrats  on  whom  we  are  dependent 
for  family  support,  and  church  and  school  and 
varied  interests,  let  us  continue  our  solidity; 
but  we  believe  the  contrary  to  be  true,  that  in 
such  solidity  we  invite  severe  criticism  and 
even  hostility,  and  prevent  neighborly  com 
munication  on  points  of  common  interests. 

We  have  the  acquaintance  of  two  leading 
democrats  in  their  respective  States, —  Hon. 
Blair  Lee,  of  Maryland,  and  Hon.  Cabel  Breck- 
inridge,  of  Kentucky, —  and  unhesitatingly 
affirm,  from  our  political  and  personal  acq.uaiiit- 
ance  with  these  gentlemen,  that  no  republican 
in  any  State  in  the  Union  would  go  farther  in 


124    PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

conceding,  demanding,  and  defending  our 
rights  as  citizens  tinder  the  law.  We  have 
referred  to  these  two  States  at  an  earlier 
period,  but  through  the  action  of  the  American 
Publishing  Company,  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  the 
publication  of  this  work  has  been  delayed  to 
the  present  moment,  which  makes  it  possible 
and  pertinent  to  refer  to  after-election  results. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

REFERENCE  TO  A  PERSONAL  AND  PRIVATE 
LETTER  OF  THAT  GREAT  DEMOCRATIC 
LEADER  AND  CHAMPION  OF  THE  PEO 
PLE'S  CAUSE,  HON.  WILLIAM  J.  BRYAN,  OF 
NEBRASKA,  TO  THE  WRITER  REFERRED 
TO  — INTELLIGENCE  OF  COLORED  BIMET- 
ALLISTS  COMPLIMENTED  BY  HIM. 

fTI  HIS  typical  leader,  with  an  ideal  record, 
r  *  indeed,  a  statesman  without  a  blemish, 
to-day  stands  before  the  people  as  the 
uncompromising  advocate  of  that  constitutional 
basis  of  money,  gold  and  silver,  the  surest  and 
most  reliable  money  basis  for  this  country, 
regardless  of  what  outsiders  or  other  countries 
may  think,  has  been  denounced  by  dema 
gogues  and  critics,  as  other  great  leaders  and 
reformers  in  the  interest  of  the  people  have 
been,  as  Sumner,  Phillips,  Garrison,  and  Lincoln 
were.  Hon.  William  J.  Bryan,  of  Nebraska, 
in  a  private  letter  to  the  writer  received  only  a 
few  weeks  ago,  complimented  and  commended 

(125) 


126    PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

the  support  given  the  cause  by  the  intelligent 
and  thoughtful  colored  advocates  of  bimetallism, 
their  study  of  the  question,  and  their  ability 
in  reaching  proper  conclusions  thereon,  thus 
showing  his  feelings  toward  all  supporters  of 
the  cause  regardless  of  race. 

Our  freedom  having  been  wrought  out 
through  great  conflict  and  agitation,  we  can 
least  afford  to  discourage  or  discountenance  a 
reform  when  carried  011  to  promote  the  best 
interests  of  the  common  people.  We  are  a 
believer  in  conflict  whether  in  politics  or 
religion  as  being  essential  to  the  solution  of 
great  problems  and  the  production  of  the  best 
results.  No  thoughtful  student  of  the  history 
of  enlightened  Germany  can  deny  that  the 
agitation  of  the  people  through  social  democ 
racy  'has  wrought  out  and  brought  great 
improvement  to  the  masses.  Under  such  a 
leader  as  Mr.  Bryan,  standing  on  a  platform  of 
equality  before  the  law,  what  good  reason  can 
we  assign  for  not  following  him?  From  per 
sonal  acquaintance  with  and  observation  of 
that  gentleman,  we  unhesitatingly  affirm  that 
no  man  lives  who  has  a  keener  or  more  sin- 


HON.  WILLIAM  J.  BRYAN.  127 

cere  respect  for  the  rights  of  all  races,  and 
greater  interest  in  their  elevation.  When 
enlightened  democracy  chooses  snch  a  leader 
we  can  well  afford  to  follow  it,  and  not  have  it 
said,  as  we  have  remarked  before,  in  footing 
up  party  strength  and  results  in  advance,  "so 
many  colored  votes,  so  many  republican  votes." 


CONCLUSION. 

In  closing  this  discussion  for  the  present, 
the  writer  desires  it  to  be  distinctly  under 
stood  that  in  following  the  line  on  which  he 
embarked  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago, 
he  has  sought  to  deal  philosophically  with  this 
problem  on  its  merits ;  agreeable  to  the  justice 
of  its  proportions  as  we  view  it;  in  the  hope 
of  ultimately,  through  a  peace  basis,  of  recon 
ciling  any  feeling  of  enmity  or  hostility  which 
might  have  engendered  since  our  changed 
relations,  as  being  inimical  to  popular  interest. 

The  disadvantages  under  which  we  have 
labored  throughout  this  period  precludes  the 


128    PHILOSOPHY  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

possibility   of  vanity  or  any  sordid    personal 
ambition  on  onr  part. 

Our  only  purpose,  therefore,  has  been  to 
deal,  as  best  we  may,  with  freedom  and  the 
obligations  which  it  imposes. 


NOTE. — Respecting  the  delay  in  this  publication,  caused  by 
the  American  Publishing  Company,  of  Hartford,  Conn.  Their 
whole  proceeding  will  be  laid  before  the  public  at  the  proper 
time,  in  the  proper  place,  and  in  the  proper  manner. 


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